


A Carol Pingrey Christmas Carol

by JamesSunderlandsPillow



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Comedy, Drama, F/F, Fluff, Girl/Girl, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Sequel to Carol Likes Luna, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-09-13 08:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamesSunderlandsPillow/pseuds/JamesSunderlandsPillow
Summary: “There is no way I am going Christmas caroling. Not when I have… more important things to do.” (Carol Likes Luna sequel. I do not own The Loud House.)





	1. Stupid Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is dedicated to a few different people. People I care a lot about.
> 
> Please enjoy:)

**Stupid Christmas**

She places the bow against her strings, and takes a deep breath.

“Here we go.”

Carol Pingrey loves her music. She really does. Anything from the bubblegum pop ballads of Boyz Will Be Boyz, to the ragtime tunes of Scott Joplin, to even the occasional country hits of Alan Jackson.

But during a certain time of year, she’s encouraged to express her love of of one her most cherished genres of all.

Christmas music.

So, on this December day, the song she plays is one where she’s able to do just that. She’s able to use her violin to surge all of the holiday spirit and excitement into her music as she steadily rakes the bow along its strings, creating the magical melody to play… well… _Carol of the Bells._

How apropos. And no one really does it better with the style and finesse of one Carol Pingrey.

Especially when the other girl in the room joins her in playing along on her amped up purple Sterrett.

A power chord, strums gradually becoming more forceful to bring about a more bombastic sound, she shows just how much she gets into it with the way she shakes and bangs her head, even sticking her tongue out.

Luna Loud is a rock god. And Carol can’t resist, the girl’s radiating energy is just too contagious.

So she rocks on too, putting everything she can muster into her slides and transitions, disregarding posture for poise, mind strictly on the rhythm.

Until finally, they’ve reached the conclusion of their duet. The strumming and the raking reaches fever pitch. Both girls have sweaty brows, teary eyes, and racing hearts. This wasn’t about anything but the love of the music, man! But somehow, like everything else…

It became about their love of one another.

They draw out their final respective notes as long as they’ll ring out, and simply idle for a moment to catch their breath before look to one another.

It’s Luna to break the silence, as she’s one to often do.

“That… was…”

“Terrible!” Carol finishes for her.

Luna meets her claim with confusion. “Terrible?” she repeats.

“Not you, obviously,” Carol retorts. “I mean me!” she hollers as she takes her violin and bow and carefully lies them on the bottom bunk bed beside of her.

She lets out a tense sigh, and Luna places her guitar to the side as well before cautiously pacing towards her.

“I could have been so much better,” Carol continues. “First of all, my bow string is dull. Secondly, I always mess up with that transition into the bridge. Not to mention when we play together I have a hard time keeping in sync with you. I don’t know if I’m just being slow or if you’re going too fast, but it’s like I can’t keep up with your rhythm!” she blurts out.

She ebbs on her despondence to meet Luna with a weak expression. “That’s… not your fault, by the way.”

Luna just shakes her head and smiles. “Chillax, C. We were awesome! _You_ were awesome!”

Carol sighs before allowing herself to deflatedly have a seat on the bed, minding her violin as she scoots it to the side.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t perfect.”

Luna considers her statement for a moment before taking a seat beside of her. “Is anything, though?”

Carol just looks to her with a bit of an incredulous look in her eyes. “Pilates?”

Luna smiles as she places an arm around her girlfriend. “Well… that might be a stretch.”

Carol rolls her eyes at the attempt of humor. “Gag me,” she teases.

But Luna just keeps smiling at her until Carol meets her eyes. “Okay, I know one thing that’s perfect.”

Carol softly smiles, because she already has an idea what Luna will say to her. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

And her intuition proves not to be too far off as Luna answers…

“I’m going to spend this Christmas with you.”

Poor Carol, she could melt upon hearing Luna’s tactfully tacky response. Like her, it was just too cute.

“Aww… Lu Lu Bear…”

The way they look into one another’s eyes, it’s clear what they’re supposed to do next. It’s just the two of them here together, and Carol did convince Luna to start using this new cotton candy lip balm…

“Well, I know there’s no mistletoe hanging over us, but…” she trails off, alluringly biting her lip as her cheeks burn red.

“So kiss me,” Luna responds.

Without any further ado, the girls close their eyes, pucker their lips, and lean in closer…

Before the bedroom door is swung open to reveal Luan Loud.

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly!” she loudly sings.

And of course, it just totally kills the mood, but Luna doesn’t seem to mind as her little sister comes in screaming all obnoxiously. Typical.

Better yet, she isn’t alone. Behind the fourteen year old girl is another familiar face Carol remembers from Bold Navy, the face of one… uh… dang it… What was her name again?

Oh yeah. Maggie.

The emo girl trudges in with an Eeyore-esque frown, but does nothing until Luan nudges her with her elbow. WIth that, Maggie follows her line with…

“Fa la la la la, la la la _plllllllllllll,”_ she finishes with a blow of a raspberry.

Luan shrugs. “Eh, I’d ask if what you’re feeling is _seasonal,_ but I already know you’re _jolly_ well emo. Hahaha!” she jokes with a laugh.

Maggie says nothing. The anguish and despair in her eyes do all the talking for her.

While Carol does feel a little miffed at the two for interrupting what was about to turn into some quality kiss time with Luna, she gets over it upon seeing the purple clad rocker smiling with their arrival.

“What’s up, dudes?” she greets. “Practicing for later?”

“Yup! You know I love me a good-” Luan begins.

“Don’t say it. If you think anything of me as a person, you won’t say it,” Maggie interrupts.

Luan exuberantly grins with glee, however.

“You know I love me a good Christmas _Carol!”_

“And now I want to die,” Maggie bluntly states.

The older girls meet the joke with indifference as well, but Luan of course busts a gut over it as she continues laughing.

“Well, at least she got it out of the way now,” Carol says.

Luna disregards the pun to stand up from her bed now. “So, I see you guys are about ready to head out.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Maggie says with her usual cynicism.

“But where’s-?” Luna starts before another girl makes her way into the room.

“Who’s ready for a blue Christmas?” Sam Sharp asks upon making herself known.

“Finally, someone with some class,” Carol jokingly says as she stand up from the bed too. “How’s it going, Sam?”

“If I was any better, Lisa would try to clone me,” Sam gladly answers.

“Don’t let her hear that. She might actually try to,” Luna says as she paces towards Sam to give her a fist bump.

The other girl returns the gesture, “Yo, Lunar Eclipse. Are you ready to rock the neighborhood?” she playfully asks.

“Always ready to rock, Blue,” Luna replies with a smirk.

Carol’s demeanor shifts into that of uncertainty. “Rock the neighborhood? What, are you guys hanging out without me?” she almost accusingly asks with a furrowed brow.

“Chill, babe,” Luna answered. “We’re going Christmas caroling. All of us!” she explained as she looked to all of the other girls in the room with glee.

“You said chill. It’s cold outside,” Luan points out with a little snicker. And of course Maggie rolls her eyes at this.

Carol thinks back, _“Did we ever decide to go caroling? Nobody told me about it! Or… Maybe they did, and I forgot with everything else going on…”_

_“Nope. They didn’t tell me. Yeah. Definitely.”_

She tries to meet her girlfriend with stern stare, but her shaky voice and pinkening cheeks cause the cracks to show. “I don’t remember anything about going caroling tonight. When did you guys talk about this?”

Luna looks back to her with questioning eyes. “Seriously? We planned it last week. We all agreed on Friday night,” she recalls.

“I’m pretty sure you suggested Friday,” Luan adds, all jokes aside.

“Pffffft, I wouldn’t have said Friday,” Carol says, but in her mind, she thinks, _“Oh man, I really did say Friday, didn’t I?”_

She shakes herself though to focus on keeping her composure. Make one wrong move, and everyone will know the truth.

“I’m just not sure if we should go tonight, that’s all,” she adds while crossing her arms.

The others meet her claim with confusion, but Luna dons a hint of scorn.

“Well we’re all already here, dude. Come on! It’ll be totally rad!” she argues, trying to hold a sense of optimism.

“Yeah! We’ll have a lot of fun!” Sam interjects. “And you have a super pretty voice!”

Carol grins at that. “I _do_ hold my high notes flawlessly,” she agrees with pride.

 _“Wait. I’m supposed to be assertive here. Focus, Pingrey!”_ she scolds herself, and she shifts back into her defensive gait.

“I still don’t think tonight is any good,” she firmly restates.

Luna frowns again. “Why not?”

Oof. Carol was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. But, being the mindful, astute young woman she is, she had already begun forming reasons to list off in her head to convince her rocker-chic lover that her way is the right way.

But she’d really rather not do so in front of… uh… _certain_ company.

She intently eyes Luna. Then, she shifts her glare to Luan, Sam, and Maggie, before looking back to Luna.

While this was supposed to be enough indication for Luna to say something about giving them privacy, Luna instead does nothing. She just keeps frowning back at Carol with the same stubbornness she always does when things get like this.

 _“Ugh. Now I have to look like the bad guy,”_ Carol mentally cusses. But if that’s what has to be done, that’s what has to be done, and she’ll do it. Really, she kind of has to.

“Uhm, Luna?” she tries, assertively yet calmly.

“Mmm?” Luna simply responds.

 _“Oh don’t play dumb with me you grinch,”_ Carol wishes she could say. Instead, she keeps her wits to her, and responds with the following.

“Could we have a moment alone?” she asks, being sure to look to all of the four other girls.

They all exchange concerned looks (well, concerned doesn’t exactly describe Maggie) before shrugging.

“Uh… We’ll be downstairs,” Sam says on their behalf. Before she turns to walk out with Luan and Maggie though, she takes pause to check in with Luna once more. “You guys good?” she asks.

Luna unamusedly sighs. “Yeah. We’ll be down in a sec.”

Sufficed with Luna’s answer, Sam reluctantly follows the other girls out of the room.

“Talk about getting the _cold_ shoulder! Hahaha!” Luan jokes as they disappear into the hallway, and Carol and Luna hear the groans from her companions from the bedroom.

Then, there’s a brief silence. Strong, palpable. Luna’s brown eyes lock with Carol’s baby blues, but not in the way they often hope for that leads to cutesy hugging and kissing. No, this was about to turn into a great debate. And if Carol could do one thing, it was hold her own in a debate.

Even if Luna was the most impossible and bullheaded girl to ever look so stupidly cute in skully T’s.

“What the heck is the deal?” she blurts out, not even trying to hold back.

 _“Alright, good. No point anyway,”_ Carol decides. _“I have to pull this off somehow. I really, really do.”_

“The deal is, I was under the assumption we would be taking it easy tonight,” Carol rebuts.

Luna furrows her brow at that. “Yeah, well, I was ‘under the assumption’ that we were going caroling with our friends!” Luna mockingly retorts.

“Okay, first of all, caroling is a no,” Carol begins. “Not only did you say nothing about it all day, but you know I have a ton of important stuff to get caught up on!”

“Stuff that can’t wait one night?!” Luna argues.

“No, it really can’t!” Carol almost desperately tells her. “I have this… one deadline that’s _really_ important to meet. I have to get this thing done as soon as possible, and I’ve hardly had time between accounting homework, SAT prep, and looking into college scholarships! Don’t even get me started with all the stuff we still have to do for yearbook committee,” Carol lists off.

“The heck with yearbook committee! Everyone stopped caring about that when Mr. Sunderland left anyway,” Luna blurts out. “And what… _project_ are you even talking about? And can’t you just put it off for a few more hours so we can go have some fun?”

While already somewhat flustered, now the former homecoming queen now feels totally confounded. “Luna, it’s… a commission. I haven’t talked about it because I don’t want you to accidentally say something to somebody and it get out. It’s supposed to be a secret,” she explains, almost like she’s rehearsed several times in case it would come up.

“Well… Okay, I guess. I get it, you gotta draw something for somebody. That’s totally cool,” Luna says, ebbing slightly on the aggression. “But this is really important too.”

Carol sighs as she considers how to follow through with what she wants to say next without sounding like a total shrew.

“How important?”

Luna scoffs. “It’s our friends, dude? You’re not supposed to just blow friends off, even if you do have stuff like this to do.”

“Well, okay, that’s fair. That’s totally fair. I’m a bad person for saying no to caroling with _your_ friends because I have more important stuff to take care of,” Carol argues in an attempt to guilt trip Luna. But once the words leave her mouth, it’s _her_ who feels guilty.

Luna takes a moment to digest her girlfriend’s words, nodding with understanding.

“Alright. I get it,” she begins. “You’ve got more important things to do.”

She takes another pause to think about how else to react to what’s been said to her, and Carol can see the shroud of despondence that now hangs over her. _“Nice going, idiot,”_ she says to herself.

“Luna, hold on-” she starts, but Luna cuts her off.

“I’m gonna go back downstairs. I don’t want to keep _our_ friends waiting anymore,” she states before grabbing her coat and walking her way over to the door. She stops there, and looks back to Carol. Where there seemed to be anger in them before, there now seems to be more sadness than anything.

“If you decide you can make some time for us, you’re more than welcome to come along,” she tells her.

With that, she turns to make her way out the door, leaving Carol alone in the bedroom.

Carol heavily sighs with a blend of many conflicting guilty emotions. Guilt for staying behind, guilt for keeping secrets, and a shallow sense of guilt for wanting to stay behind as a way to get back at Luna for trying to guilt trip her.

Which, news flash, it worked.

Even so, she got what she wanted. Now she’s alone, and she has some time to do what needs to be done.

She makes her way over to her backpack, and unzips it to pull out her drawing tablet and get it set up. She then takes a seat over on Luan’s desk with it, and lies it down on the table until the image of her latest art project manifests on the screen.

A roughly sketched drawing of her girlfriend Luna Loud with rock mega star Mick Swagger.

“Stupid Christmas…” she utters to herself with a heavy heart before deciding to get to work.

\-----------------------

Lynn Sr. is in the kitchen singing along to the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album with the twins as they make Christmas cookies.

“Christmas, Christmas time is near… Time for toys and time for cheer…” he joyfully sings as he mixes the batter in his bowl.

Suddenly, he feels a tugging at the hem of his sweater.

“Ugh! Daddy! I want to lick the spoon!” Lola cries. Shortly after, Lana yanks her by her hair to take her place at her father’s side.

“I never get to lick the spoon!” she whines as she reaches up for the coveted confection covered spoon.

“Settle down, girls. Remember; Santa is always watching,” he reminds them, failing to realize that Cliff the cat has made his way up to the counter to try and sneak a taste of the cookie batter himself.

“Dang it, Cliff,” Lynn cusses, grimacing with a sense of defeat.

Meanwhile, Lynn Jr. and Lisa make their way into the kitchen, making a beeline for the refrigerator.

“Okay, I know all of that mathematical hullabaloo already,” Lynn remarks regarding Lisa’s argument. “But bear with me here, Lis. Santa. Has. _Magic,”_ she finishes with a clap.

Lisa rubs the bridge of her nose as she allows her older sister to open the fridge door for them. “I would continue refuting your preposterous claims about the supposed mythological phenomenons regarding that of the Coca Cola product that is Chris Cringle... but I’ll refrain from doing so. I’m far too famished, and pie sounds good,” she long-windedly tells Lynn.

Lynn rummages through the contents of the icebox with a conflicted look on her face. “Pi? Stop thinking about math for once. Let’s get some food.”

Lisa meets her with stoicism. “I walked into that one. Move over, Lynn dog,” she jokes.

“Hey! You know how I feel about that stuff!” Lynn retorts.

“Pish posh, applesauce. Speaking of applesauce…” Lisa ripostes as she maneuvers her way through Lynn to get her small hands on a treat.

They disregard all of the Dr. Pepper they keep in the fridge, and the many fatty foods the other siblings share an affinity for in favor of an unfamiliar pitcher of… milk?

Lynn takes it, and she and Lisa both study it.

“What is this?” Lynn asks as she takes a whiff of it. It doesn’t smell so good, and she cringes.

“Let me see that,” Lisa instructs, because weird smelling things usually mean there’s something fascinating to discover about them.

She scrutinizes it for a moment before shrugging and deciding to take a sip of it. Once she swallows it, her face scrunches up all sickly like.

“Is it milk? Is it expired?” Lynn questions.

“That’s… not milk…” Lisa answers, shaking her head a little because of the concoction.

“Uh girls, that’s for me and your father,” Rita lets them know as she walks into the room with Lori and two year old Lily at her side. Their mother goes over to the fridge, takes the pitcher from her second youngest daughter, and then puts it away before making her way over to Lynn Sr and the twins.

Lori smiles at Lisa. “I see you found the eggnog. I remember my first time trying some, haha,” she recalls with a little laugh before making her way to the dinner table for a seat with little Lily.

Lynn Jr looks to Lisa for a moment as well. “You good, Dexter?”

“I… _ahem…_ I’m going to go… uhm… science…” Lisa stammers before making her way out with a little fumble in her step.

Lynn makes sure to go escort her back to her bedroom, but not before filching a snack wrap from the fridge.

Rita taps her husband on the shoulder, and he defensively tenses up before realizing it’s her. “Hey beautiful,” she flirts.

“Oh, hey handsome,” Lynn Sr. jokingly says with a little less vigor before returning his focus to the cookie batter before him. “Uh, sweetheart, can you please tell our daughters to give me some space,” he asks.

“You’ve got it, Super Dad,” she jokes. “Alright, come on ladies. I think they’re playing Frozen in the living room,” Rita tells the twins, motioning them along.

“Aww! Frozen!” Lana happily cries, running into the living room.

“Aww! _Frozen…”_ Lola groans, trudging along.

“You’re too good for us, dear,” Lynn tells his wife as she makes her leave as well.

“No… you,” Rita tells him with a wink.

Lori sits Lily in her chair, and offers her spoonful of sugar. “Is that good? Yeah?” she asks with a cutesy voice.

“I like it!” Lily happily announces.

“D’awww,” Lori gushes with glossy eyes.

Shortly after, her cell phone rings, and it’s none other than her beloved…

“Bobby Boo Boo Bear!” she greets as she pecks the answer call dial, revealing his handsome face.

“Heeeey babe,” he draws out with a smile. “How’s everything going?”

“It’s loud,” she chuckles, “but I like it that way. How are you guys?” she asks.

From the other end of the line, her only brother Lincoln makes himself visible. “Hey Lori! It’s awesome over here!” he answers on their behalf. He turns back to look at the long line of people behind him all gathered to donate their canned goods to a certain Ronnie Anne Casagrande, who smiles as a charitable patron drops off her contribution in a bin.

“Thanks so much! Merry Christmas!” the eleven year old girl cheerfully expresses.

Lincoln and Bobby both look back to Lori through the phone screen. “It’s really great, babe. I can’t believe how many people showed up for the food drive.”

“Yeah, it uh-- It’s really great,” Lincoln says, wiping a single tear away from his eye with a sniffle.

“I’m really happy to hear it, guys. This is what Christmas is all about. Giving to others without asking for anything in return,” she tells them before smiling at her infant sister, who just looks unarguably adorable as always.

The smiles wane from Bobby and Lincoln as they feel a presence nearing them, and they turn to see who it is.

“Uhm, is that Lori?” the faceless voice nervously asks.

“Yeah! Do you wanna say hi?” Lincoln asks the stranger.

“Is that who I think it is?” Lori asks with a sly smile, “Tell him to get in here!”

Clyde timidly makes himself seen on the chat, and despite a little trepidation, musters words to say to her.

“H-Hi Lori. I hope you’re doing well,” he politely greets. No nosebleeds, no robot sounds, just well mannered salutations.

“I’m doing great. I hope you’re having fun!” Lori tells him in response.

“Oh, yeah. It’s always fun helping others,” Clyde says with a little more pep, warming up to the casual conversation a little.

“It literally is,” she agrees.

Clyde simply smiles, and the other boys do too.

“Well, I just wanted to check in and let you guys know we might be staying a little later than planned. I hope your folks are okay with that,” Bobby tells his girlfriend.

“Trust me, they won’t argue. Besides, we have enough going on over here with the twelve days of Frozen and Alvin,” Lori wisecracks.

 _“We only have each other! It’s just you and me! What are we gonna doooooooo?!”_ Lana carelessly sings from the living room, totally out of tune and time with the TV. Lola just buries her face in a pillow, praying for it to end as soon as possible.

“Are you seeing this Santa? I better get everything I want this year!” she hollers.

Luan, Sam, and Maggie all watch on from the foyer. While the former two find it amusing, the emo expectantly frowns.

“Your sister is my spirit animal,” she jokes to Luan, who simply laughs in response.

Finally, Luna makes her way downstairs to join everyone, wearing the despondence from the argument with Carol on her sleeve.

The others pick up on her depressive display, and are quick to ask about it.

“Is everything okay, Luna?” Lola is first to ask.

Luna dismissively waves at her. “I’m okay, Blondie. Got lost inside an adorable delusion, I cannot hide.”

The others frown. “Aww, is Carol not coming with us?” Sam questions.

“She… said she had some stuff to take care of,” Luna skittishly answers. Her disappointment is obvious, but she does her best to put on a front by fixing her posture and letting out a sigh before forcing a smile. “So hey, are you dudes still down to go caroling?”

“Sure! But you left your _Carol_ upstairs, hahaha!” Luan jokes, but she quickly realizes it’s not the best time even before she notices everyone glaring at her. “Sorry… Bad time.”

Luna shakes it off again. “Naw, it’s all good dude. Tonight’s about having fun. I don’t wanna worry about it.”

The others exchange worried looks, but decide not to be so fretful with Luna’s encouragement.

“Well, alright dear…” Rita starts. “You guys are gonna be home at a decent hour, right? You know how Flip feels about the neighborhood getting so Loud,” she reminds them.

“Flip can cool his tits,” Sam scoffs.

“Sam!” Luna blurts out.

“I like her,” Rita whispers to Lana, who nods in agreement.

“She has a pretty voice like you,” Lana comments, and Rita just smiles at that.

Sam continues her elaboration. “Yo, real talk. This is a night for fun and adventure. Anyone who isn’t into that stuff can either stay upstairs and do whatever, or go home,” she declares.

Maggie casually turns to make her way out the door, but Luan stops her.

Rita thinks over Sam’s declaration. “Wait a second… Carol has her own house…”

“I like Carol! Don’t make her leave!” Lola practically begs, jumping out of her seat.

“Relax… No one is making her go anywhere…” she assures the excitable tot.

The carolers all look to Luna, who fixes her eyes on the stairway. She wistfully considers the possibilities, but ultimately comes to the same conclusion as everyone else.

“Yeah… No one is making her go anywhere…” Luna somberly agrees. The thought is saddening, but she refuses to dwell on it. Or at the very least, she won’t let it keep her where she stands.

So she puts her big girl panties on and bucks up.

“Alright dudes. Who’s ready to rock the Christmas spirit!” she cries with a smile.

“Yeah!” Luan and Sam cheer.

“Yaaaaaaaay,” Maggie sarcastically, lethargically moans.

Luan just smirks at this, then grabs her by the wrist to maneuver her towards the door. “Come on, sunshine.”

“Be safe you guys. Have fun! Keep your coats on!” Rita tells everyone.

“Everybody be quiet! _First Time In Forever_ is about to play!” Lana demands of them all, practically shaking with excitement in her seat as she glues her eyes to the television.

Sam smiles at her display of childish wonder, then starts to make her way out the door. She notices that Luna isn’t quick to follow though, and looks back to her with a forlorn expression.

“Luna?”

The other girl lifts her head to meet Sam’s eyes, and after a moment of consideration, perks up a little.

“Yeah. Let’s roll,” she says with a weak smile before walking to the door.

Sam returns a smile of her own, and with that, the carolers make their way into the night to spread Christmas cheer.

Minus a Carol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really missed writing for these two, and I knew I had to do something for Christmas. Hopefully I can get the whole thing finished before the 25th, but either way, I'm far from done.
> 
> So please stay tuned for more, and thanks for everything, true believers.


	2. Stupid Juice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real quick, I want to thank everyone for checking this story out, and for just being all around good noodles.
> 
> Also, I forget to mention last go round that my boi Sesquipedalian Numeral beta read this. You should go read everything by him, or at least know that he’s one of the main people I had in mind writing this.
> 
> Thanks Ses, and the rest of you. Please enjoy!

 

**Stupid Juice**

“Gah! Nothing’s working!” Carol groans as she reaches to grab at her tablet screen like a sheet of paper so she can crumple it into a ball of failure and misery and woe so she can toss it to the side like yesterday’s drabble.

But, dang it, for all the benefits that come with SAI… simply pressing the new file button isn’t as dramatic. Another disappointment in a night chock full of them.

She leans back in her chair, letting out a heavy sigh as she looks skyward, hoping to find magic motivation in the ceiling somehow.

Surprise! _It doesn’t come._

“Ughhh,” Carol moans again as she looks forward once more before rubbing her restless eyes. The mind is willing, but the body has grown a little weak.

 _“Let’s face it, I’m weak… I’m weak as fetch,”_ Carol cusses to herself before donning a wince. _“Eh, fetch doesn’t work. Stick to what you know, C.”_

She repeats this mantra as she looks down at her tablet, seeing the lack of progress on her Christmas present for Luna. _“What I know is that, I blew off spending time with her so I could work on this stupid thing. So I need to do it and get it done. It has to get done. I PROMISED myself I would get it done. So why are you sitting here thinking about working on it, when you can actually WORK on it!”_

She picks up her stylus and almost brings it to the pad, but catches herself freezing as she turns to her phone.

There was a time when she loved it buzzing with messages from friends, or girls with the last name “Loud.” But now it was weird. She needed the thing to _not_ buzz so she could focus on real life and actually getting productive things done like the boring, drab, almost mindless adult that dreamt of being before meeting Luna Loud.

“Wow, that thought got depressing,” she thinks aloud before fixing her eyes on the phone again.

It’s almost beckoning to her. Heaven knows she shouldn’t pick it up, but dang… she really really wants to.

She gives in to the temptation. Just this one time won’t hurt. She’ll just check the time, make sure Mom and Dad haven’t called, and then get back to work.

Oh… but of course. The moment she presses the unlock button, she remembers just what picture her wallpaper is.

Someone, she doesn’t even really know who, snuck a shot of Luna spooning her just in front of a window on a wondrous, snowy winter day. She was wearing her favorite black and purple sweater, while Carol was rocking a lovely blue sweatshirt of her own with little snowflakes patterned into the seams.

The smiles on their faces… Carol’s heart melts every time she sees it. It’s a reminder that it’s all real. Their love is real, everything they’ve been through has been amazing, and there’s just no telling how far they’ll go.

She loses herself just staring at the image until her phone screen fades to black, reminding her that she has to lock these things out for the time being to focus on the task at hand.

“It’s for Luna… It’s all for Luna…” she whimpers.

“What’s for Luna?” a familiarly optimistic voice asks from the doorway of the bedroom.

Carol turns back, and sees Leni Loud. As per usual, the blonde is smiling, but she has on a fresh new sweater that’s, as the kids like to say, _lit._

“Hi Leni,” Carol tiredly greets, turning back to her tablet to lock it before Leni can see her progress. The leaps and bounds she’s made on the blank canvas would definitely spoil her surprise for Luna. Totes.

“I’m just uh… working on a commission for someone,” she answers with little enthusiasm.

“A commission?” Leni questions before thoughtfully putting her finger to her chin. “Oh! You mean like a drawing for somebody!”

“Yeah, exactly,” Carol simply responds.

Leni steps into a chipper little leap over to Carol, giddily looking over her shoulder.

“Can I see?! I promise not to say anything to anyone! I’m totes better about keeping secrets now! Like, I haven’t even told anyone that Luan got Lola for secret Santa this year!” she blurts out without realizing she’s even leaked previously unknown information.

Carol rolls her eyes. Normally it would just be _Leni_ enough to make her smile, but right now, not even her usual brand of delightfulness can keep her from feeling so humbug.

Even so, she can’t take it out on the poor girl. Even if she wanted to be… _her old self._

Instead, she shakes her head, and gets back with the program.

“I would any other time, Len. But this is uh… kind of important. I really can’t let anyone see what I’m working on,” she tells her.

Leni frowns. “Is everything okay, Carol? It has to get lonely sitting in this empty room just watching the hours tick by,” she thinks aloud.

Carol raises a brow at her statement. She was right. Maybe she does need a little social interaction to get her mind and heart back in the right place. Leni could be a welcome distraction for a few. No arguing, no worrying, just some wholesome conversation.

And hopefully she wouldn’t turn it into _Why aren’t you caroling with Luna?_

Carol braces herself, and then turns to face the second oldest Loud sister. “I’m fine, Leni. Thanks,” she fibs with a little smile. “What have you been up to? What’s new?” she asks.

Leni giddily shows off her outfit. “Well, I think I’ve _finally_ found the perfect Christmas wardrobe! What do you think?” as she poses.

“I think you look lovely,” Carol answers with conviction. “I especially love the little sparkles in your sweater.”

“Oh yeah! I got the idea from Luna!” Leni remarks.

 _“Aaaaaaaand there it is. Hello darkness, my old friend,”_ Carol thinks before she dejectedly sighs, wearing a rigid frown that not even Leni’s bubbly attitude can help her hide.

This makes Leni frown too. “Awww… What’s the matter? Your sweater isn’t so bad!” she comments.

Carol perks up at that with a Dwayne Johnson furrow of the brow. “What? My sweater is-- oh, never mind,” she gives up before she even gets started, settling back into a defeated slouch.

Leni grabs Luna’s bean bag chair, and clumsily gets it set up close to Carol before awkwardly taking a seat in it. She can’t help it, she’s trying, and Carol couldn’t laugh even if she was in the mood for humor.

Ignoring her own lack of finesse, Leni focuses on the task at hand. “If there’s something making you sad, you should talk about it. It’s not okay to keep your feelings bottled up,” she states.

Carol thinks over her words for a moment. “I know. This is kind of complicated though…”

“How so?” Leni asks. “Like, is it your head, your tummy, or your heart?”

Again, Carol thinks it over, and her stomach growls a little bit. She’d been drinking too much soda lately. She really needed to get back to strictly milks and juices. Skim. No-pulp.

“A little of all three, honestly,” she admits.

“Hmm…” Leni hums. “I’d tell you to have some milk, but Lisa’s still asleep after drinking what was in the fridge. So maybe I can’t help you there. But I can try to help you with the other two! If you want, I mean… I can just leave you alone, too, if you’d feel better…”

Carol looks back into Leni’s glossy eyes. In them, she can see everything she needs to, everything she’s happy to know about the girl. She isn’t the type to ask out of boredom or self-interest, she’s the type to ask because she genuinely wants to help in any way she can, regardless of what price she’ll have to pay, big or small.

Carol cocks half a smile. “You’re too good for us, Leni.”

“Please don’t say that,” Leni responds with a wince. “You know it isn’t true.”

Carol softly rolls her eyes. _“Whatever. Yes you are,”_ she wants to say. But, she respects her wishes, and focuses instead on how to go about this conversation.

Would it be so wrong to do just a little venting? If Leni was right about one thing (definitely not about her sweater. Bold Navy pulled through like every other time), it was that keeping things bottled up is unhealthy. Especially when she needs to get to work on this stupid drawing.

So, she takes a deep breath. If Leni wants to help like she says she does, this would be a win-win.

“Okay… Well, you know how Luna and the others went caroling tonight?” she begins.

“I actually didn’t,” Leni answers. “I’ve been busy working on wrapping up my present for secret Santa. I… am not so good with tape,” she admits, rolling up her sleeve to reveal an abundance of tape stuck to her arm.

Carol winces, then leans forward to help Leni start getting the tape off of her arm. As she digs her perfectly manicured fingernails into the sticky tape, she contemplates how to continue their discussion.

“Okay, well, long story short, I was supposed to go to. But it totally slipped my mind, and, well… I kind of have more important things to do. Is that so bad?” she wonders.

“Well… it depends,” Leni responds, still letting Carol help her with the scotch tape. “You and Luna do spend a lot of time together. And responsibilities are important. It’s like Batman always used to say. With great power, comes great responsibility.”

Carol refrains from being snarky about that as she finishes getting the tape off of Leni’s arm. The other blonde rubs her now tender skin as she smiles back at her friend.

“Thanks.”

Carol sighs though. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m glad to hear you say that. It does make me feel a little better…”

Leni picks up on her blatant uncertainty. “Buuuuut?...”

Belatedly, Carol adds, “I still feel bad.”

Leni considers this for a moment. “Well, you did say you would go with her. And they probably are having fun,” she comments, earning a little scowl from Carol. “But hey! I know Luna. She won’t be mad at you for working hard on what you’re doing! And I know you’ll make it up to her. You two are totes perfect together!”

Carol can’t help it. She has to smile at that thought. “Thanks Leni. I really needed to hear that,” she confesses.

“You’re super welcome!” Leni tells her. Then, she softly chuckles. “You know… I always sort of knew you’d become… part of our family.”

Not only does Carol’s heart almost burst from the way Leni refers to her as ‘family,’ but her curiosity piques into genuine attention. “I… thank you Leni. That means a lot. But what do you mean?”

Leni smiles as she sighs with relief. “Do you remember the first time you came over to our house?”

Carol laughs as the vague fragments of the memory start flooding her mind’s eye. “Oh man… Yeah. Yeah, I remember…”

\-----------------------

The year was 2007, and Carol Pingrey was only seven years old. She had only recently moved to Royal Woods with her parents from Los Angeles, and while she had been excited about the prospect of moving somewhere to spend more time with her family (which turned out to be a lie) in the quieter, more friendly suburbs of Michigan (which was also a lie), things were really tough. Just like LA, she was another face in the crowd, and she didn’t have very much exciting going on besides the rare occasions of being partnered with kids at school who would be forced to socialize with her, and being able to draw in her notebook when teachers couldn’t be bothered by it.

That all changed when she met Lori Loud.

The first girl to talk to her for more than a few seconds, the first girl to ask her questions about who she was and why she liked the things she did. The girl that would one day convince her to join the Bluebells, run for class president, and eventually become the woman she grew up to be.

And yeah, it was rocky for a while once they got a little older and more concerned with popularity and meeting others’ standards after awkward transitions into puberty… But once upon a time, none of that mattered.

All that mattered was Carol finally made a friend.

And she had _four_ little sisters to play with! And a baby brother!

“I’m really excited for you to meet my family!” Lori exclaimed as they walked side by side. It was a cool autumn day, but still nice for walking. Jacket weather, perfect for Lori and Carol to show off their brand new, almost matching coats. Thankfully the bus stop was only a few blocks away from 1216 Franklin Avenue.

Carol really liked the way Lori dressed. So much so, that she actually decided she’d try to dress up more like her. It started with wearing more blue. Blue was a nice color, and it was Lori’s favorite.

But she really liked her purple jacket. Her mommy said she looked good in purple, and with time, she came to accept that as well.

But not for a long while after that fateful autumn day. The very first day she’d come to Lori’s house for a play date!

“I’m excited too,” Carol simply said with a small smile on her small face. What she really wanted to say was _“I’M SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE GOING TO A FRIEND’S HOUSE!”_ but she decided that was probably a little much. Even as a young child, she astute. No need to spaz.

“I can’t wait to show you my bedroom! It used to be all mine before my parents made my stinky sister start sleeping there too,” Lori pouted.

 _“It must be nice to have sisters. Even if they are smelly,”_ Carol thought to herself.

“But it’s okay,” Lori furthered. “Leni likes a lot of the same things I do. We play dress up, and sometimes we color. I know you love coloring.”

“I do love coloring!” Carol chirped. In reality, she was more fond of drawing than actually coloring, but she didn’t want to argue about it. It was better just to let Lori assume this. It was just nice being acknowledged, even if it was kind of… _wrong._

Finally, the two girls came within eyesight of the Loud house. In retrospect, not much would change over the next twelve years, except for a few more coats of paint, and the amount of feet that would pitter patter along its floors. Everything else would virtually stay the same.

Including just how endearing Lynn Loud Sr and his loving wife Rita could be. They stood on the front porch, watching as their youngest daughters Lynn and Luan played together, passing a little red ball back and forth.

They shifted their focus to the incoming seven year olds. While Lori smiled wide as she prepared to run to her parents, Carol idled by with an unsure, nervous gait to her.

“Mommy!” Lori hollered as she hurried to make it to over to her parents, who both looked on with smiles of their own.

“Oh-ho! Hey there!” Rita got out as Lori squeezed her little arms around her as hard as she could.

“Mommy, Carol’s here! That’s her!” she cheered as she pointed over to her shy guest.

Lynn Sr and Rita exchanged happy glances before looking over to the young girl. “Hello, Carol. We’re very happy to have you over,” Rita greeted the Pingrey child.

She really, _really_ wanted to respond with a wave and “Hello, Mrs. Loud. Hello, Mr. Loud,” but she froze. Instead, she just timidly looked back to them, feeling her neck shrink into her shoulders before she could let out a weak little, “Hello.”

The Loud parents were respectful and understanding. They had six children. They knew this type of behavior could be expected of little girls.

“Make yourself at home, Carol. If you need anything, just let us know,” Lynn told the girl.

“Lori, why don’t you take Carol inside. I’m sure she’d love a glass of water,” Rita suggested.

“Eww! Water!” a three year old Lynn Jr. cussed as she caught the ball Luan passed to her.

“You should get her a juice box! She’ll be _berry_ happy!” Luan joked.

“Haha! That was clever!” Lynn Sr. chirped with pride. “I guess the _apple_ doesn’t fall far from the tree!”

Rita rolled her eyes at the exchange of silliness, and disregarded to give her oldest daughter more attention. “Sweetheart, when you go inside, would you check on your brother? He’ll probably wake up from his nap soon.”

“Okay, mommy!” Lori gladly agreed before rushing back to Carol. “Come on, Care! I wanna show you my brother!” she said to her as she took her by her wrist.

“Uh… oh-okay,” Carol skittishly said before allowing herself to be whisked along into the house in what was seemingly a blur.

And there she found herself, _actually standing_ in Lori’s house. For a moment, she was nebulous. It was surreal. She’d only ever seen a few other people’s houses, but only when her mother and father were taking her somewhere.

For the first time in literally forever, Carol was at a friend’s house! She was so happy, she couldn’t even smile. The muscles in her face were practically paralyzed as she looked around at the wonderful new world around her. Pictures of Lori, Leni, uh… the third one, Luan, Lynn, and the baby all plastered along the walls. New walls that didn’t seem cold. New carpet that seemed more inviting than linoleum. This wasn’t just a house. It was a _home._

Lori finally looked to Carol, and snapped her out of her daze. “Well, this is my house,” she started.

Carol broke herself from her stupor to meet Lori’s blue eyes. “I like it!” she almost instinctively blurted out, immediately regretting it. It sounded so dumb, so spazzy.

But Lori just kept smiling. “I think I do want a juice. Do you want one?” she asked.

“I like juice,” Carol simply said. She wasn’t nearly as tactful then as she would grow up to be.

She followed her friend into the kitchen, and inside, they would discover two other children close in age.

Of course, there was Leni. She was in first grade, so Carol would see her around school sometimes. But then there was… poop. Lyra? Lena? Something L. The one with brown hair. She was in kindergarten, and wore really pretty purple dresses.

Normally, the two girls were prim and proper. Any time Carol would see them walking in the halls of Royal Woods Elementary School, they’d have bright, shiny smiles on their faces… unless Mrs. Johnson was making them do stupid lips and hips.

But at that moment in the kitchen of the Loud house, the two girls were arguing over what appeared to be a juice box just like Lori and Carol had coveted.

“Let go of it, Luna!” Leni commanded her younger sister. _Luna. Right._

“Stop! I’m telling mom!” the third youngest Loud argued as Leni attempted to take it from her.

“Will you guys stop! My friend is here!” Lori yelled at them. Five minutes inside the house, and her sisters were already messing everything up for her.

Carol could only watch with trepidation at the display. Weren’t brothers and sisters supposed to be nice to each other? Share things? Play together? Not fight over silly ol’ juice boxes…

But they continued, and somewhere in the middle of the kerfuffle, Luna accidentally squeezed the juice box, making a mess of juice on not just the floor, but herself.

Her older sisters froze, and Carol did too. They all looked to the sole brunette, who met them all with glossy, watering eyes…

“My dress!” she cried before bawling. Yup. Carol’s first experience with Luna was watching her literally cry like a little girl.

“Ugh! Nice going, Leni!” Lori scolded at her.

“Me?! I never do anything wrong! It’s always you guys!” Leni defensively retorted.

Sensing the air of hostility, added to the fact that Luna’s crying was only getting louder, and Lori decided she needed to put her big girl panties on and bite the bullet.

Not because she cared or anything, but because she didn’t want to get in trouble the one time she brought a friend over.

“Okay, okay. Sorry, Leni,” she apologized. “Now help me clean up this juice before mom and dad come inside.”

“Hmph. Why should I?” Leni petulantly pouted with folded arms.

 _“Pleeeease_ Leni?” Lori begged.

Leni considered it for a moment, but then rolled her eyes. “Okay, _fine,”_ she conceded.

With that, the two girls frantically began scurrying about to find something, anything to clean up the stupid puddle of juice on the floor. Unfortunately, they had no such luck.

Worse yet, Luna was still crying her eyes out over spilled juice. She was a ticking time bomb. At some point, their parents would hear her, and they’d come marching in, Luna would tell on them, and then they’d be in trouble!

And poor Carol… all she could do was stand and watch, totally unsure of how to react to any of it. It was all too strange, too new, too scary.

Finally, Lori made the call to action. “Carol!” she hollered.

Carol quickly bucked up to look to her with doe eyes, but she couldn’t get a word out.

“Help us find something to clean up!” Lori ordered before running out the room. “I’ll check the bathroom!”

“And I’ll check the living room!” Leni announced before running in the direction of the back door. She realized halfway there that she was going the wrong way though, and quickly turned back to go the other way, nearly tripping over her own little feet.

They were gone. As quickly as they came, they were gone now. It was just Carol, paralyzed with anxiety, and Luna, still bawling like a banshee.

For a little while, all Carol could manage was to stare and watch at the poor girl. Her pretty purple dress was covered in grape juice, and if they didn’t do something soon, it would probably stain.

It was time for Carol to be brave. She thought to herself, _“Okay, I have to be like Lori!”_ and with that, she too started hurrying through the kitchen to find something to help.

Her mind and heart were both racing millions of miles an hour as she desperately looked for a towel, or a cloth, or even an old piece of paper just to help even a little bit. It was the end of the world! They were all going to get in trouble, and Carol wouldn’t never be allowed to come back to her house!

She worked too hard to make friends with Lori. She wouldn’t let it be ruined by something as stupid as stupid juice.

Just as it was all starting to seem hopeless, Carol found them. Trusty old paper towels. They were high up on the kitchen counter, where grown ups could get to them easily, but little ones… eh, not so much.

“Dang it,” Carol cursed under her breath upon seeing this.

“You- you- you said a _bad_ wo-o-o-ord…” Luna stammered through her hysterical crying.

Carol ignored her. Man, she was annoying. No way they’d ever be friends like her and Lori. Fat chance.

But, it was her little sister, and if she wanted to stay over and play and do all the things friends were supposed to have fun doing, she’d have to fix it, and fix it soon.

So, she got up on her tippy toes, and tried as hard as she could to reach up for the paper towels on the counter. “Nuh, unh… Come on! Come on!” she uttered as she reached and reached and reached, hoping to get just the tips of her little fingers on the dumb roll.

Realizing her stature wouldn’t be sufficient enough, she knew she had to try harder. She had to jump! She had to leap! She had to have confidence in herself to actually do this!

And dang it, she wouldn’t give up until her dainty, scrawny hand finally grazed the paper towels.

“Huah!” she elatedly gasped as she felt them. “Almost! Almost!”

Finally, they gave way. She was able to strike it in just the perfect way to make them fall and roll down to the floor.

“I did it!”

She smiled at her success, but it soon escaped her as the deafening siren of Luna’s squalling pervaded her mind once again. Yeesh… she was loud. The loudest Loud, easily.

“Luna… Luna!” Carol called to her, trying to calm her down.

Finally, the five year old ebbed a little on her crying to look to Carol. Snot was running down her nose, greasy fingers were smearing her shabby clothes. She was a mess.

And worst of all, she really wasn’t ugly. She just looked really goofy with a juice spot on her dress and a face full of tears and snot.

“Here, let’s clean you up,” Carol said to her with a soothing voice before picking up the roll of paper towels. She then stepped over to Luna, ripped off a couple paper towels, and began using them to dry off her soiled tummy.

The outrageous bellyaching gradually simmered down into just a few tears and sniffles. Whatever Carol was doing, it was helping, and she had to smile a little with pride.

“Heh, I guess this is what it’s like to be a big sister,” she commented as she finished up drying off Luna’s dress to the best of her ability. It didn’t help the stain, but it was at least making her less damp.

“M-My dress is still- still…” Luna stammered, unable to finish.

“It’s okay. Lori will know what to do,” Carol assured her. “She’s really smart.”

For a brief moment, the two children met eyes. In Luna’s, there was still pain, still anguish. But there was also a sense of relief. She didn’t have to cry anymore, things would be okay.

So, Carol smiled at her. It was the least she could do for the poor thing.

Finally, Lori and Leni returned, the former holding a box of tissues, and the latter carrying a roll of toilet paper.

“Carol,” Lori began with a look of disbelief.

The guest turned to proudly smile at her friend, “It’s okay Lori. I’m helping her get cleaned up.”

“Who cares about her?! We need to clean up the spill before my parents come inside!” Lori argued.

It made Carol sad. She didn’t know any better, and Lori didn’t have to yell at her for it. “Oh…”

She watched with a heavy heart as Lori and Leni rushed over to take the paper towels, and then use them to clean up the puddle. It didn’t take very long for them to wipe it all up and discard the trashy towels, but it still felt like a little while for Carol. This visit was nothing like she’d hoped it would be.

The mess was cleaned up now, and Luna had stopped crying. The best part? Mom and Dad seemed none the wiser. There was still the matter of Luna’s now stained dress though.

“Alright, come on Luna. Let’s go get you changed,” Lori worriedly told her as she walked over to her.

“But- but, I _like_ this dress,” she whined.

“I know you like it, but it’s messy. Have Leni go help you change,” Lori refuted.

“But- but mom and dad?”

“Don’t worry about it, we’re not gonna get in trouble,” Lori insisted before turning to Leni. “Leni,” she simply said with an authoritative tone.

“Sir yes sir!” Leni called out with a salute before taking Luna by the hand to escort her upstairs. “Come on, Lulu. Let’s get you dressed up!” she gladly beamed.

Luna couldn’t form actual, coherent words. She just sort of jumbled up noises as tears and sniffles still managed to escape her.

Soon after, they were gone, leaving Carol and Lori to themselves once again.

For a moment, it was weird. Carol couldn’t look at Lori. She still felt bad about making her yell, and she didn’t want to say anything to make it worse. She just wanted to help. She just wanted to make it so they could have fun and play like they were supposed to do.

But eventually, Lori spoke up.

“Okay… Sorry about my sisters. They can be really dumb sometimes,” she started, all of the excitement gone from her voice. Back was the nurturing nature that made her so endearing to Carol  before, and it didn’t take very long for her to recognize it.

Yay! She wasn’t made after all! There was still hope!

“It’s okay,” Carol simply said. She didn’t want to overdo it. That should be simply enough.

Evidently so, because Lori was over the juice incident in no time. “Hey! Come on! I want to go show you Lincoln! And then maybe we can go to my room and play something!”

It was like an enormous weight had been lifted from Carol’s shoulders. Finally, they were going to go upstairs and be alone. After a lifetime of waiting for a moment like this, it would finally be happening. Carol’s dream of having a real friend was coming true.

And yet, the only way she could feel comfortable putting it into words was…

“Okay!”

The moments leading up to the two children making their way to Lori’s room seemed to pass by in slow motion. Carol could feel her palms sweating profusely as she followed her upstairs into more uncharted territory, the second floor of the house. Structurally, it wasn’t much different from her own. There were lots of doors that went into lots of rooms, but the difference with this house was that people actually occupied them. To seven year old Carol, the thought was equally exciting as it was kind of scary. As much as she didn’t like being alone, sometimes it was good to be.

Finally, they made it to the doorway. While Lori casually just opened the door to let them inside, it was almost something out of a Disney movie for young Carol. A big, bright shiny light shown it’s way out, birds sang a song, her eyes grew big and glossy.

 _“There it is,”_ she thought to herself, _“That’s her room!”_

It was amazing. Sure, it was pretty much what she expected, but it was still amazing! Not only did Lori have a really nice Princess Pony bed dress, but there was a _second_ bed where Leni slept, too! She had monkeys on hers.

There was a little table for coloring and drawing (yay!), a big doll house, stuffed animals… they’d be able to play all evening in here!

It was literally almost enough to bring a tear to her eye.

“So,” Lori began as she faced her companion for the afternoon, “What do you wanna play first?”

“Uhm… What?” Carol uttered. She was asking her what _she_ wanted to do first?

How was she supposed to respond to that?!

Fortunately, before she could make a butt out of herself with some sort of dumb response like “You pick, it’s your house,” or “I don’t know. I’ve never played with someone outside of school;” Leni came to the door, a worried expression on her face.

“Uhm, Lori?”

“What is it now?!” Lori snapped.

“Can you come into the babies’ room for a sec?” she timidly asked.

“Oh, poop!” Lori cursed, “I forgot about Linky!”

“Well, that, and Luna’s about to start crying again…” Leni furthered.

Lori heavily sighed at that. “Alright, I’m coming,” she told her sister before following her out of the room.

Maybe she just forgot Carol was there or something, because she didn’t tell her what to do. She just left her standing there, alone in Lori’s room with all of her lifeless toys. They were pretty neat when Lori was here, but now they just reminded her of what it was like to be at home with parents too busy to play…

Maybe she was supposed to stay in here and wait, maybe she wasn’t. Either way, she really didn’t want to. Besides… Lori did say she wanted to show Carol her brother.

So, she invites herself to go check in with Lori and her siblings in the other room. She’s lucky she caught Lori trailing off into the room she did, or she would have had to have looked for her in some sad version of hide and seek.

She even almost blurted out “Wait!” but caught herself before she could. Thank goodness. That would have just been weird of her…

Disregarding all of the icky feelings of doubt and anxiety brewing up inside of her, she peddled along to catch up with Lori, pussyfooting into the same room that she and Leni disappeared into.

Inside, Lori and Leni stood next to a melancholy Luna… who was on the verge of tears again, and dressed in clothes much different from what she normally wore.

“Where did you find this?!” Lori guffawed upon seeing the wardrobe Leni selected for their little sister.

“It’s my old Nikki Stevens costume from last Halloween,” Leni reminded her.

Gosh, Luna looked so different wearing a rockstar’s drab and not a frilly dress. Kind of dumb too, but, Carol wouldn’t dare tell her that after what happened earlier…

“Oh Leni…” Lori facepalmed. “She hates it! Can’t you find something else?”

“Mom is doing laundry today!” Leni cried.

And poor Luna… she was about to cry more than Darius Rucker when the sun comes up tomorrow.

It was in that moment that Carol felt her adrenaline begin to surge inside of her. Dang it, this kid already put her playdate in jeopardy enough today, she was _not_ going to let it happen again.

But, she also knew what it was like to feel sad, to feel ugly, to feel like someone less than everyone else in the room…

She knew just what to say to Luna. The same thing she wished someone besides her mother or father would just tell her…

“I think you look really pretty!”

The three Loud sisters all looked over to Carol with conflicting expressions. Disbelief, skepticism, nausea?...

Through heaving breaths, Luna was able to ask, “R-Really?”

Astutely recognizing what Carol was thinking, Lori quickly joined in. “Yes! My goodness, Luna… You look amazing!”

She then shot a glare at Leni signifying that she do the same. Despite sometimes failing to pick on these kinds of things, Leni realized what Lori meant this time pretty fast.

“Oh, oh! Yeah! That’s why I picked this one, Luna! It makes you look like a punk!”

Carol imagined that Lori thought of some grown up words as she facepalmed again.

“Whuuuuh?” Luna got out, clearly upset with the term Leni used to describe her just now.

Carol, being the very smart young lady all the growns up told her she was, was quick to think of a smooth recovery. “She means like a star! You know? You look like a really cool punk, dude!”

Luna was able to find a smile through all of her sadness, thanks to those words. “I’m… _cool?”_

“Oh, the coolest!” Lori chimed in. “In fact, you’re so cool, I think you should go Mommy and Daddy!”

Luna beamed brightly at that, seemingly dropping whatever had her so upset before. “Okay!” she chirped before making a beeline for the door. “Mommy! Daddy!” the other girls could hear her hollering as she hurried her way to them.

Leni and Lori sighed of relief. “Thank goodness…”

They then turned to Carol. “That was ridickyolous,” Leni tried to say, pronouncing it as such.

“Yeah it was,” Lori agreed. “Hopefully she just plays with Luan and Lynn and leaves us alone.”

Carol could see that the other girls were okay with this. Maybe she should had to add something too…

“Yeah! I want to have some fun!” she blurted out, regretting it _as soon_ as she did. Gosh, what a dumb thing to add...

Luckily, Lori nor Leni seemed to think much of it, as they just smiled while the former agreed with, “Me too!”

Just then, the sound of a baby’s whimpers became audible. Ever so quietly, he began quietly cooing.

For Carol, it was enough to bring her some panic. Was he going to cry like Luna? Would they _ever_ get around to just playing and having fun?

But Lori and Leni didn’t get excited. they just grinned to one another before pacing over to the baby’s crib, and pulling up little step stools so they could check on him.

“Come here, Carol!” Lori invited her friend with a wave, “I want you to meet Lincoln!”

“O-Okay,” Carol stuttered. Truth be told, she hadn’t seen too many babies. It was almost intimidating to think that Lori and Leni treated it so casually.

Even so, it was important to have courage… like Lori. Lori was really brave.

WIth that, the little girl walked her way over to the step stools where the others stood, where she would soon be invited by the hand of Lori for help up.

Carol smiled as she took it, a warm feeling coming over her. She let Lori pull her weight so she could join her at her side. Then, once she knew she was steady, she placed her little hands on the edge of the crib so she could take a look inside.

And there he was, baby, white haired Lincoln. His tiny body wiggled around as he worked his weary eyes open, and then he fixed them on the girls. For a moment, he just studied the big people, fascinated by their presence, but far from afraid.

In fact, he even spit out his pacifier so he could meet them all with a little smile.

“Awww,” Carol quietly blurted out. He was amazing. So small, so cute, but just as real and alive as anyone else in the room.

Lori glanced over to her friend with a little smile encroached on her face. “He’s my favorite. He only cries when he’s hungry,” she jokes before slyly grinning at Leni.

“Hey!” Leni playfully retorted.

Carol heard them, yeah. But she was hypnotized by the small child lying in the crib, smiling up to her. At one time, she was that little. And one day, he’d be big like her. One day…

“I hope I can be a mommy someday,” Carol said to the others with dreamy eyes.

“I think you’d be a great mommy!” Lori encouraged. “You take good care of things, and your baby would have really pretty hair like you!”

Hearing that made the warm feeling inside of Carol cascade into something even more wonderful inside of her. That was only something a real friend would say.

“You really think so?” she asked with a little bit of a blush.

“Really, really,” Lori answered with conviction in her baby blue eyes.

For a little while, the two simply smiled to each other before turning their focus back to little Lincoln. Babies were supposed to cry a lot, Carol thought. But Lincoln was just happy to be here with everyone.

Lori patted Leni on the arm to get her attention. “Hey, will you go to tell Mommy that Lincoln is awake?” she asked.

“Okay! Are you guys gonna play without me?” she asked with some concern.

“No. We’ll wait for you,” Lori assured her.

Leni was content with her answer, and so she stepped down from her stool to hurry downstairs. “Okay!”

Once she was gone, Lori turned to meet Carol with a smirk. “I’m not waiting for her,” she confessed.

Which, truthfully, was more than okay with Carol. Sure, she was excited to be around with Lori’s sisters, but what she really wanted was to just have her to herself for a little while.

“You literally lied to her!” she playfully teased with a little jostle to Lori’s arm.

“Haha, I did,” Lori shamelessly admitted before stepping down from the stool and waving goodbye to her brother. “See you later, Linky.”

He just cooed. The kid couldn’t be better.

Carol looked to him once more with a little smile, and gave him a soft little wave of her own. “Bye bye,” she quietly said before stepping down to follow Lori out of the room.

She caught up to her friend, who started thoughtfully humming. “Hmm… I like that word…”

“What word?” Carol asked.

“Literally. I think I’ll start trying to say it more,” she decided.

“Heh, would you say you literally like it?” Carol joked.

“Heh heh, yeah, I literally do!” Lori joked back.

They shared a laugh at that.

It was really nice. All this time, Carol found herself so worried that maybe she liked Lori more than Lori liked her. But here they were, laughing at each other’s jokes, smiling at each other, and doing it all in Lori’s house…

She was just so excited at the thought of it! It was all she ever wanted!

But at the same time… she was scared. Was it all in her head? Did Lori really even like her? She didn’t know how these things worked, and she was so tired of worrying. All she wanted was to let it go, and be allowed to freely enjoy having a true friend.

So much so, that she couldn’t hold it back anymore. She had to say something.

“Hey Lori,” she began with a little trepidation.

“Hmm?” Lori hummed in response, her attitude as bright and bubbly as ever.

It wouldn’t be easy. Maybe there was still time to play it off like she just wanted to know where the bathroom was or something.

But then she repeated a familiar montra to herself that helped her when she felt afraid… _“Be brave. Like Lori.”_

So, she took a deep breath, then said what she needed to say to her.

“Lori, are we friends?” she asked. Such a simple, short question. And yet the weight behind it was so heavy, so powerful. If she said yes, she wouldn’t have to feel doubt anymore. She could just be happy enjoying the other girl’s company.

And if she said no… Gosh… She didn’t even want to think about what would happen if she said no…

She felt a whirlwind of worry inside of her as Lori looked to her with a conflicted expression on her face. Was she confused? Flustered? Was this all too much, too soon for her? If it was… oh man… Carol wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears… Her entire life she had dreamt of having someone like her! The last thing she wanted was to ruin it!

She just shouldn’t have said anything…

Then, as Carol was wallowing in the prison of her doubtful mind, Lori blinked with surprise.

“Carol…” she began.

Then, she smiled wide.

“Of course we’re friends!”

Carol had to blink a few times herself. Was she hearing her right? Did she just say what she’d _hoped_ she would say?

She wouldn’t dare utter another word even if she could have. Now more than ever, Lori had all of her attention.

“You’re really nice! And I like a lot of things about you!” Lori told her. “You dress really nice, and I like playing with you at recess!”

Okay, maybe Carol could have expected her to say yes… but actually say that she liked playing her at recess? No way.

“Really?” she keenly questioned.

Lori took a second to think about how to respond, and smiled when she came up with something. “Yup. Actually, I think you might _literally_ be my best friend.”

Somewhere in the distance, the Hallelujah chorus had to be playing somewhere. Hearing Lori tell her that was _literally_ her best friend was almost enough to make her swoon on the spot.

They hadn’t even gotten to playing yet, and this was already the best day ever.

But she kept her cool. She was more than happy to hear Lori lay these claims, but between all of the excitement and maybe tuckering herself out a little, or maybe just realizing even at the age of seven that it was never good to spaz out… she was okay with just accepting the truth, cherishing the fact, and going to play with her best friend.

“Wow… I think you’re my best friend too, Lori,” she simply said.

And while she had just expected Lori to leave it at that and lead her to the bedroom, she found herself pleasantly surprised once again as Lori smiled wide, and then wrapped her arms around Carol for a great big hug.

Her heart pitter pattered into a pounding as she felt Lori wrap her into her sweet embrace. Now she felt like crying because of how dang happy she was.

“We can be best friends forever!” Lori cheered with glee as she continued squeezing Carol in her little arms.

Dang it, that did it. Not only was Carol smiling wider than maybe she ever had in her life, but she _literally_ shed a single tear of joy as all of her insecurities and fears were washed away with one simple gesture.

She couldn’t have been happier to return Lori’s hug with one of her own, so that’s what she did. She wrapped her arms around Lori too, allowing herself to exchange these feelings of love and acceptance without a care.

They savor the moment in each other’s arms, really letting it last before finally breaking away to meet each other’s eyes once more.

With the same bright, bubbly attitude as before, Lori smiled at Carol. “You never answered my question from earlier, silly,” she said.

Carol met the statement with some dissonance. “What question?”

“What do you want to play first?” Lori responded as she gestured towards her open bedroom door.

It was truly amazing how much could happen in such a short amount of time. In what was only a matter of minutes in the Loud house, Carol had been on a roller coaster of emotions, steering her in the direction of hurt, comfort, fear, and ultimately, most importantly… true happiness.

It was mostly because of Lori. Heck, it was pretty much _all_ because of Lori. But she had to admit, part of it came from being there for baby Lincoln, and being there for little Luna.

“Can we play house?” Carol suggested, somewhat nervously.

Lori met her a brief pause, almost as if she would decline. But in an unsurprising move, she brightened up at the thought. “Sure! I love playing house!” she chirped. “Let’s go!”

Carol chuckled a carelessly free and happy chuckle. Nothing could bring her down now. Nothing.

“This is going to be so fun!” she cheered.

Lori paused again, donning a sly smirk. “Literally.”

And with that, they hurried their little feet into the bedroom, where they went on to play and have fun for the rest of the afternoon.

Literally.

\-----------------------

Carol and Leni both let out nostalgic sighs as they conclude their reminiscing in the past. Despite still feeling some of the same guilty feelings from before, Carol also takes comfort in knowing how well things have gone in the lifetime leading her up to this very moment between her and Leni. A girl who is not only the sister of both her best friend and her girlfriend, but also someone she can trust and confide in. Someone who feels strongly enough to label her as “part of the family.”

“Leni… Thank you,” Carol starts, almost having to force it from herself instead of choking up.

Leni meets her gesture with some of her own brand of confusion. “Thank you? For what?”

Carol contently nods. “For just checking in. It means a lot,” she explains. “Not just this one time, but always. You’re always taking so much time to make sure others are okay. Heh… You’ve really changed since the first time I came over,” she ends with a tender rib.

Leni smiles at her words. “I guess we all changed a little bit,” she simply says.

For a moment, the two of them look away from each other to instead focus on fascinating spots on the floor. In the time inside her own mind, Carol comes to a decision. Maybe this would be a small way to return all of Leni’s kindness, and maybe it’s really her own selfish way of getting to express herself in a way. But she decides to do it for one big reason.

She wants to share it with Leni, a person who deserves the best in her eyes.

“Hey, Leni… Do you still wanna see what I’ve been working on?” she invites with a shimmer in her eye.

Leni meets her surprising display with some conflicted feelings. “Uhm, really? Are you sure? I mean… You did say it was a secret.”

Carol nods softly shakes her head. “That doesn’t matter. I trust you. I think you’ll like it,” she elaborates.

Leni considers her offer for a moment, but decides to go ahead and allow it with a wide smile beaming on her cheeks. “Sure. I’d love to!”

At her blessing, Carol takes the tablet that she was using to work on her newest project, and searches for her initial sketch of Luna and Mick Swagger. She finds it, and looks to it with a blend of both pride and shame before handing it off to Leni.

“Check this out,” she says, playing it cool like she’s known to do.

Leni accepts the tablet, and studies the picture for a moment before her eyes widen up and her mouth forms an O shape. “Oh, wow!” she comments. “This is really cool, Carol!”

“Thank you,” Carol simply replies. “It’s just a sketch, I’m going to start working on the actual thing now,” she explains. “If I could ever stop feeling sorry for myself…” she quietly trails off for only herself to hear.

Leni just exuberantly admires the drawing for a little bit before donning that same familiar confused expression as before. “Wait a second… Why is someone paying you to draw Luna with Mick Swagger? Is this from the same guy who asks you about those cannon pictures?”

Carol tries not to be snarky with her disbelief over Leni’s failure to pick up on the situation. “Leni, no one commissioned me. This is a present for Luna,” she reveals.

Leni takes a second to digest the information before finally being able to wrap her head around it. “Ohhhhh… So, this is what you’re getting her for Christmas,” she deduces. “And… this is why you stayed home. You want to get it done in time for then,” she further speculates.

Carol heavily sighs. It was one thing to keep the knowledge to herself and bear it, but to hear it from someone else-- Leni of all people… it really sinks in just how crummy it sounds.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here and not caroling with her and the girls right now,” she guiltily admits.

Leni notices her friend's blatant despondence, and rests a comforting hand on her leg.

“Hey, it's okay,” she sweetly starts. “When she sees this picture that you worked really hard on, all she'll be thinking about is just how much it means to her,” she claims with confidence.

“Shyeah, if I could ever get to work on it,” Carol ripostes.

Leni smirks because of this, and then stands up with a proud posture. Carol meets her haughty display with some concern as she raises a brow.

“Where are you going?” she asks.

“I'm going to go see if my dad needs any help in the kitchen. You're going to stay here and get to work on your present for Luna,” she firmly, yet lovingly orders as she makes her way to the door. She turns back to look to Carol one last time with a smile before she makes her exit, though.

“Luna knows you love her, Carol. We all do. Just keep doing your best to make her happy, and you'll be happy, okay?”

Carol allows Leni's advice to sink in, and she feels a warm, happy feeling come over her because of them. Maybe there would still be doubt, but with Leni's encouragement, she believes now that she can make the best of the situation.

“Thanks,” she simply says once more, smiling at Leni once more.

Leni returns the gesture, and then creeps her way out the door before gently closing it behind her.

And with that, Carol finds herself alone once more.

She takes a deep breath as she focuses on getting focused, “Okay…” and then stands up to return to her workstation with the drawing tablet.

Before she opens the file back up to resume her project, she decides it will help her to stay motivated with some music to accompany her. In a way, it will be like she's not alone.

And in a way, it will be like a little piece of Luna will be with her.

So she takes out her phone, and unlocks it to see that lovely wallpaper of the lovers on that winter day. She allows herself to get lost in the image for a moment before opening up her music app, and getting her “Luna” playlist booted up.

The song to play is “Back to December” by Taylor Swift. It was a song Luna recommended to her after a great debate about Alan Jackson and the descent of country music, and it’s held a very special place in her heart because of it.

As the beginning notes from the mandolin begin to play, she takes one more deep breath, and then focuses on her tablet.

“Let's do this…” she says before placing the stylus to screen and getting to work.

By the time she's started, the song has made it to the last line of the chorus, and Carol sings along with it.

“And I go back to December all the time…”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awesome music references return. The JSP specialty.
> 
> Thanks as always for reading, and I hope you’ll stay tuned for more. I probably won’t finish the whole story in time for Christmas, because I’m only capable of writing super long masterpieces and have no free time, but either way, I hope you’ll like what I’ve got in store for these lovely ladies.
> 
> Until next time true believers.


	3. Stupid Cans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this done by Christmas... It's January 15th as I type this XD
> 
> But yeah, just because Christmas is over doesn't mean you can't enjoy this, right? And I swear I'll get this thing finished, even if it takes forever. Caroluna isn't gonna fight for itself.
> 
> Thanks as always, and please enjoy true believers!

**Stupid Cans**

About an hour and half passes before Carol’s phone dies in the middle of…

“NO! SLEEP! TILL BROOK-lyn?” the girl sings as she realizes her soundtrack has been sabotaged.

“What the-?” she utters as she checks the phone, discovering its untimely death. “Boo, you whore,” she cusses at it before tossing it over to Luan's bed.

It's in this moment that she realizes just how tired her eyes are from staring at a screen for so long, how uncomfortable her butt and back are from all the sitting, and how dry her mouth is.

“Dang, how long has it been?” she questions as she peeks over to the Tenacious D wall clock Luan and Luna agreed upon buying.

6:26. About an hour and a half, alright.

Carol rubs her eyes before looking down to her work in progress. While it was starting to shape up into a finished product, she wasn’t so sure it’d be just right. Some of her lines were too rigid. Some of her shading would be off. If she didn’t focus more on Mick’s jawline and less on getting Luna’s chest right, the whole thing would be a waste of time, and...

“Okay. I think I've earned a short break,” she tells herself before she can beat herself up anymore. She didn’t need this negativity in her life. A few minutes away to focus on not completely hating her work would probably be healthy.

She stands up from her seat and stretches her well taken care of… everything. She'd cut down on soda eventually, but for now, she knew she looked good enough to enjoy some as long as it helped her get so much work done.

And speaking of soda…

“Ahhh… I could go for a drink,” she thinks aloud with a yawn before deciding to make her way out and go to the kitchen. She scratches her back before doing another little stretch (ergonomic chairs are best to avoid irreversible coccyx damage), and during her brief pause, she overhears some indistinct humming from one of the nearby bedrooms.

She peaks around, and finds the humming is coming from none other than Lisa. Much like Carol’s been doing for the last ninety minutes, the girl often labeled a child prodigy sits at her desk, face in one hand, pencil in the other as she intently looks upon a large sheet of paper with all sorts of daunting numbers and words plastered all over it. They're likely schematics for one of her devices or machinations.

From the sound of it, she appears to be humming the opening lines to _Do You Want To Build a Snowman,_ and only stops to take a swig of the Coca Cola can resting to the side of her.

Ugh, Coke. Definitely not Carol’s favorite drink, but she understands the struggle. She can definitely sympathize with a kid trying to sugar herself up to finish a project.

She can’t help but stand there at the toddlers’ doorway for the while and just admire Lisa. The fact someone so young could be so talented and smart for her age was borderline jealousy inducing. Carol always strived for perfection. It was no secret. But she had to a much slower road getting to her Ivy League scholarships compared to the second youngest Loud daughter’s path to getting her PhD in biochemistry.

The Carol before Luna would have made excuses or unjust claims about the unfairness of it all. But the Carol today can only watch in awe, a warm sense of pride for the girl radiating inside of her.

Even crazier? She somehow manages to keep quiet enough not to wake her younger sister Lily, who sleeps in her bed only a mere few feet away from her.

Seeing that the little one is asleep and that Lisa is occupied, Carol decides to go ahead and mosey on out. She’ll gladly have herself a _Dr. Pepper_ before getting back to busy-bodying.

As she prepares to step away though, she catches Lisa’s eye. The bespectacled girl does a little double take to be sure she actually sees Carol there, and when she’s certain she’s real and not some sort of mirage that’s the result of too much caffeine, she offers her some salutations.

“Hello, Carol. I see you’ve decided to remain here for the duration of the evening, unsurprisingly.”

Carol looks back to her, and belatedly responds, “Heh, yeah. Home away from home.”

“I suppose there are worse places you could take residence. And you have proven to do well enough as Luna’s significant other, despite the statistics being against your favor,” Lisa continues without actually looking to her. Instead, she focuses her little eyes on her spreadsheets, dutifully working away on algorithms and variables that Carol won’t pretend to ever understand.

“Statistics?” Carol repeats with skepticism. Maybe others didn’t see what made ‘Caroluna’ work, but she didn’t care. She knew things were good.

Or at least, they were for the most part.

“Disregard,” Lisa simply states before leaning back in her chair and letting out a heavy sigh. She rubs the bags under her eyes with her little hands, and then turns back to steal a look at her sleeping baby sister. She’s still resting comfortably, which is all the assurance Lisa needs to focus on other pressing matters.

She studies her schematics for a moment longer, but then lets out a “bleh” before taking another drink of her Coke and facing Carol.

The older girl can’t help but chuckle a little at her display. “Heh, you look a little tired,” she jokes.

“Full disclosure, I’m feeling rather lethargic,” Lisa admits while rubbing one of her corneas. “I have a deadline to meet on this assignment I’m working on with some fellow colleagues for _another_ fellow colleague, but experimenting with my parental units’ apparently alcoholic concoction earlier today forced me to take an impromptu siesta… causing me to fall behind schedule,” she details as she checks the watch on her wrist.

Carol frowns at that. “Yeah, I get what that’s like,” she simply responds, letting her somber eyes meet the carpet below.

However, Lisa doesn’t become distressed. In fact, she just shrugs. “It’s inconvenient, but there are just some variables one can’t account for. Let it go, let it go,” she ends with a little roll of her hand.

The five year old genius rolls her chair around to face Carol, and meets her with her usually indifferent expression. Unlike Maggie, she doesn’t seem grouchy or grinchy though. She just seems… okay with things.

“But enough rambling from myself. How are you, Ms. Pingrey?” she casually asks now.

It takes the older girl a bit by surprise. Usually when she encounters one of Luna’s sisters, they start hollering about mudpies or football. Then again, it wasn’t often she caught them alone. She hardly got _Luna_ to herself in this house. It was a nice change of pace to have someone express some interest in engaging in casual conversation with her, especially someone who could meet with her on a more sophisticated level like little Lisa. She’ll take advantage of the opportunity.

“I’m well, thank you,” she sort of fibs as she decides to go ahead and pull up a chair. “I’ve kind of been busy working on my own little project, actually.”

“A project, you say?” Lisa inquisitively replies. “Of what caliber?”

While she decided her secret was probably safe with Leni, she tells herself now that it’s probably better to keep the details of her own deadlines ambiguous. As long as Lisa is interested in genuine conversation without weird ulterior motives involving DNA samples, no harm could be done keeping it to herself.

“Well, I don’t know if you know this, but I occasionally take art commissions for extra money. It’s not that I really need the cash, but it’s a good way to make use of my talents I’d like to think,” she admits. If anyone could understand the logic behind her reasoning without labeling her things like “pretentious,” it would be Lisa.

“Oh, I understand completely,” Lisa responds. “To paraphrase the old cliche, it’s questionable to perform tasks and services for others without requesting compensation when you’re able to execute them well.”

Carol chuckles a little at that. “Exactly! But yeah, that’s what I’ve been working on. A new commission.”

Lisa nods with understanding, retaining her collected nature as she often does. “Splendid. Some people like to view the holiday months as a time to put off responsibilities and distract themselves with an overabundance of leisure time and relaxation. But I would argue that this time of year requires more hard work and dedication than other seasons!” she proclaims before glancing over to her unfinished work. “Coming from the girl who’s procrastinating to enjoy a soft drink and water cooler talk with a confidante,” she adds with a little smile.

Carol gladly accepts that as her way of admitting they’re on pretty good terms, and she smiles back.

“We’re ridiculous,” she remarks before looking back to the floor. What was really ridiculous was how she was supposed to be working on her project, and now she was talking to Luna’s little sister. Not Luna.

Dang it, this was going well. Why did she have to remember that she’s here because she didn’t go caroling with her girlfriend?

Noticing the subtle change in demeanor, Lisa decides to inquire on this.

“Am I sensing a hint of despondence from you, Carol?”

Carol dismissively waves at her. “No, I’m fine,” she lies. “It’s like you said. Just because it’s Christmas time doesn’t mean we can’t just decide to stop all of our important work and… go caroling…”

She couldn’t finish saying it with confidence. She wants to believe she’s in the right, but she still feels guilty, and it really shows with the way she dejectedly slouches at the thought.

Which incites Lisa to prod further. “Hmm. Perhaps,” she thoughtfully begins. She takes a moment to consider how to go about furthering the conversation, but soon composes what she considers to be a sufficient follow up. “Tell me, Carol… you wouldn’t happen to be regretting declining Luna’s invitation to join her in yodeling her so-called ‘Christmas carols,’ would you?” she questions with air quotes.

Carol meets the inquiry with a guilty wince. She considers possibly responding with anything less than the truth, like blaming her drop in serotonin levels on a lack of energy or being frustrated with her lack of progress on the ‘commission’ (which, wouldn’t be entirely false, actually). But seeing that Lisa already knows what’s up, she decides to just spill the proverbial beans.

“Alright, you got me. I feel crummy for staying home to work on my drawing,” she admits, folding her arms and hunching a little with shame. “But it’s really important! I have a deadline! I can’t just put this thing off and expect it to finish itself!”

“Boy, wouldn’t that be serendipitous,” Lisa scoffs. Despite it being more of a witty comment for the sake of amusement, she takes a moment to think about the scientific potential for something that could fulfil such a purpose. “Hmm… I should write that down,” she says before actually, literally writing it down on her notes.

Carol just continues with what she was saying. “I mean, I don’t know… I guess I _did_ tell her that I’d _maybe_ go caroling with her. But with everything else I’ve had going on between school and trying to work around everyone’s holiday schedules, it just kind of slipped my mind.” She frowns now, the slight guilt now resonating into sadness. “Lisa, if I can trust anyone to be brutally honest with me, it’s you. Tell me straight. Am I a bad person?”

She allows herself a moment to digest all of Carol’s statements, and then glances back at Lily to make sure she’s still asleep. Seeing that she’s just as well as before, she returns her focus to Carol, and offers her the following as a response.

“Well, to be wholly transparent, I am not exactly an expert on romantic endeavors. While I have conducted some research on the data studies involving success rates of high school relationships for… ‘screening purposes,’ I also lack personal experience in this area considering my attentiveness for academics. Not to mention I’m five,” she states. “This must all come as quite the shocker, I know.”

Carol takes in Lisa’s information, but decides to say nothing more until she’s heard a little more. After all, Lisa is a girl of science. She’s only getting started forming her hypothesis.

“You’ve asked me if I consider you a bad person, and the short answer to this vague, undeducible question is simple. No, I do not think you’re in the wrong here. In fact, I can list several reasons why I find your reasoning for staying behind to work on your assignment to be far more fruitful,” she furthers as she steps down from her chair.

In typical Lisa Loud fashion, she walks her tiny legs over to a nearby whiteboard, and rolls it over to where she can display its contents for Carol to clearly see.

On it, there are several algorithms recorded, all pertaining to proving _Why Coca Cola is Objectively Better Than Pepsi._

Seeing Carol’s look of confusion regarding this, Lisa tells her, “A colleague and I were ‘memeing’ as the kids like to call it.” She then erases the contents from the board to get a fresh start.

She takes a black marker, and presses it against the board. As soon as the tip meets the canvas, it makes a loud squeaking sound, and both girls feel a sense of panic as they frantically turn to look to the third person in the room.

The sleeping child is unfazed by the sudden, sharp noise that pervaded the air, seemingly resident to the world of slumberland for just a little while longer.

Carol ebbs on her sudden stress, and Lisa wipes her brow as she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Heh heh, the board likes to squeak sometimes.”

With a little more consideration, she proceeds as she was. Carol attentively, curiously watches as Lisa begins forming a bullet point list.

“Okay, so, first thing’s first. You have a deadline,” Lisa says as she writes down _deadline_ along the first bullet point. “As I’m sure your experience as the lead editor of your school’s yearbook has taught you; deadlines are crucial to meet. You have a client. They’ve offered you compensation for your services. Speaking of which…”

She then writes _compensation_ on the board.

“You’re making time for something important, and you’re earning revenue that you can use to buy Luna a present.”

 _“Wow Lisa, that makes me feel so much better,”_ Carol wants to say, but she keeps it to herself despite rolling her eyes.

“And lastly… There’s always next year…” Lisa concludes as she writes _next year_ before placing the cap of the marker back over the tip. Barring any external circumstances, I trust you'll still maintain ties with Luna by then.”

Carol wants to shrug it off and let what Lisa is telling her stick, but between fatigue and just feeling all around crummy, the logic in her words don’t inspire. “I know… I know…” she simply says, slouching over and letting her pouty face fall into her palm.

Lisa sees this, and thinks of how to approach her next point.

“Hmm. Perhaps you do. But have you considered this?” Lisa asks before removing the marker cap once again and turning to the board. This time, instead of quickly scribbling down a few letters, her arm moves in several different ways, piquing Carol’s curiosity.

She finishes, and turns back to face Carol with her same neutral expression as she reveals a new drawing on the board. It depicts crudely drawn doodles of who appear to be Luna, Sam, Luan, and Maggie.

“Ms. Shrinivas has suggested I make more time to work on developing my art skills,” she dryly reasons.

Carol meets the gesture with some confusion. “Okay? It’s Luna. And the others. But why are you showing me this?”

Lisa takes a moment to let a yawn escape her and glance over to Lily once again before returning her gaze to Carol.

“Well, again, I’m not the proverbial Dr. Phil when it comes to soft sciences. However, I know enough about these things to recognize the great possibility that your significant other, my sister, is likely doing well with the company she has,” she explains. “In layman’s terms, I think Luna can have some fun without you.”

Carol raises her brow and places a hand to her chin. “Okay, I mean, I would hope so,” she says with a bit of a scoff.

“Please don’t misinterpret my message,” Lisa replies before taking a seat back on her computer chair. “What I am about to say is strictly an attempt to help you overlook your feelings of sadness in order to accentuate the positives.”

This… was new. It definitely was unlike Lisa to make such a great effort to be a human venting station, at least from what Carol had seen. And yet, here she is, going out of her way to _accentuate the positives._

“I may not be able to illustrate this for you with pen and canvas as well as you’re able to with your drawings, but I might be able to paint a metaphorical picture for you…”

She then turns around to face her computer once more, and makes sure to sneak in a swig of her lukewarm Coke before focusing on punching in some sort of codes into some sort of program.

Carol just meets the foreign servers with even more confusion, and allows her eyes to wander over to the sleeping child just a few feet away from her.

And she can’t help it, seeing sleeping Lily makes a little smile stretch across her face. Even with everything that brings her stress, she has to admit to herself that knowing Lily was happy, healthy, and safe brings her joy even in the toughest of times. And she knows Luna and the others feel that way even more.

The idea of family being together always made her happy.

Finally, it appears that Lisa has finished up whatever it is she’s doing on her desktop as she lets out a cliche “Aha!” She then swivels back around to face Carol again, this time with a smile on her mug.

 _“Of course. Science makes her smile,”_ Carol thinks, but again, she keeps her snide comments to herself in order to let Lisa have the floor. “What?” she simply asks.

“Carol, if my calculations are correct… Which, who are we kidding here? They always are. But if they are correct, then I might be able to tell you just exactly what you’ll be missing out on this evening thanks to a simulation I’ve run using this fascinating new program of mine!” Lisa excitedly tells the older girl.

Carol takes a moment to digest her words. “Simulation? You mean like… you plugged some stuff into your computer to like, tell me what the others are doing without me?”

Lisa nods and smiles. “Yup.”

Many, many questions run through Carol’s mind. Why would Lisa have such a device? How did it work? When did she make it? It just seemed impractical. And… kind of campy. Like something out of a dumb fanfiction.

However, only one question matters enough to her to actually put it into words for Lisa to hear.

“What did it say?”

\-----------------------

The starry night sky glows over the snowy streets of Royal Woods. Mothers and fathers escort their sons and daughters along to admire the Christmas lights displayed along the houses and street corners, and said streets are alive with the sounds of music, most of which come from carolers moving from house to house to spread Christmas cheer.

Carolers like Maggie, who lack cheer unlike Luan.

“Oh come on, you _snow_ you like caroling with me, just admit it!” Luan jokes to the girl trying to walk fast enough to stay ahead of her.

She rolls her eyes. “I sang because it would have been conformist of me not to. I'm so nonconformist that I go against what typical nonconformists do.”

Luan chuckles at that. “Well _holly_ ‘bout that? You've actually _goth_ into the Christmas spirit! Hahaha!”

Maggie frowns harder than usual. “I am not a goth! Get it right already!”

“Ahh, you're right. I'd say I'm gonna end up on the naughty list, but I know you emo kids are pretty _listless!”_

Maggie stops I'm her tracks, and thoughtfully looks skyward before meeting Luan with an approving nod.

“Okay, that one was clever,” she admits.

“Why thank you,” Luan proudly replies, and the girls continue walking forward on the sidewalk.

Just a few feet behind them, Sam Sharp and Luna Loud watch as they follow, and the latter lets out a little laugh.

“Oh man, those two are a riot,” she comments before smiling at Luna. However, Luna is unable to meet her with the same level of enthusiasm, instead offering only a weak little grin as she keeps her hands snug in her coat pockets.

The display concerns Sam, who raises a brow.

“Dude, are you alright?” she finally asks.

Luna perks up a little bit with surprise. “Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. Why?”

Sam furrows her brow to make it clear she isn't buying it. “Well, between moping and pouting since we left your place, and singing flat back at the McBrides’ house…”

“Is it that obvious?” Luna asks, choosing to concede instead of argue against what her best friend seemingly knows to be true.

“I mean, kind of,” Sam sorrowfully states. “I'm sorry about what happened with Carol, dude. But you don't have to pretend you're not upset about it just for the three of us,” she concludes, pointing out Luan and Maggie as well.

The aspiring comedienne continues playfully razzing her seemingly unamused companion, now joking with her about how her mother only has one toe and one knee.

“That's why her friends call her _To-ny!_ Get it?!”

“I want to bury you in the snow,” Maggie bluntly ripostes.

And despite everything, Luna has to smile a little at that exchange, which makes Sam smile too.

“Man, how did those two end up together?” she asks.

“A bunny,” Luna answers.

“Gary?” Sam asks.

“It's a long story,” Luna responds. She then lets out a sigh, her somber thoughts returning to her. “Sam, can I ask you something?”

“Nope,” her blue and blonde haired friend teases, but the unimpressed look she gets as a reward lets her know that now isn't the time for jokes. “Sorry. What's up?”

Luna takes a moment to consider her words as she looks to the white blanketed ground running along the sidewalk, remembering how her last encounter with her beloved ‘Care Bear’ went.

“Was I wrong? I mean, should I tell Carol I'm sorry I'm bad? Sorry I'm blue?”

Sam thinks it over. “Well, I mean, if you want me to be honest, I don't think either one of you is like, _wrong._ I just think you guys could have handled it better. Both you could have.”

Luna winces. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better? Cuz it's not workin’ dude...”

Sam Sharp sharply sighs. “Okay, if you want me to tell you you're the bad guy here and you're in the wrong, I'm sorry, but I can't. You told Carol we were all doing this together. But you knew she had a lot going on. I don't think it's anything to be depressed about.”

Even so, Luna has a hard time believing her words, because she still hangs her head lowly. “Maybe… But I don't know. I'm still kind of ticked at her, and I'm still kind of ticked at myself. Love hurts sometimes.”

Sam frowns upon hearing those words, but then tries to brighten up with a smile.

“Yeah, it does. But it's also really great, especially when you have someone as awesome as Carol, and she has someone as awesome as you,” she reassures as she wraps her arm around Luna for a brief little hug. “You two will work it out later. But for now, just try and focus on why we're here… Playing it loud and playing it proud in the name of Christmas cheer!”

Luna sighs, but allows Sam's words to ring true inside of her. Maybe there is still some hope for this night to be fun.

“You're right, Sam. I know you're right,” she says with a little smile.

Sam removes her arm from Luna, and slyly grins. “It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small.”

Luna rolls her eyes. “You and Lana can take your Frozen and stick it where the sun don't shine.”

“Santa is watching, little girl. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake…” Sam sings, eyeing the brunette with a look that shows just how desperate she is for a sing-a-long.

And Luna decides to let her have this one. Partly because she decides it might help her feel better, and partly because... she knows from watching Maggie with Luan that it's usually easier just to let her idiot friend be an idiot. She can't fight this feeling anymore. She's forgotten what she started fighting for.

“He knows if you've been bad or good,” Luna continues, gradually brightening up with her own little glow.

And Sam, being the good idiot friend she is, she sings along with her.

“So be good for goodness sake!”

They continue into the next verse, getting a little louder, and a lot more cheerful.

“Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry! You better not pout, I'm telling you why! Santa Claus is coming… to town!”

They burst into shared laughter, really just enjoying themselves and forgetting all about the important mushy stuff they were discussing. The night is young! And just as Sam said, there’s still plenty of cheer to be spread through song!

However, with all the pouting and then singing they were preoccupied with, they sort of lost track of just where they were heading. Luna notices this first as she looks around at the unfamiliar area around them.

“Yo, Sam. Where even are we?”

Sam ebbs on the silliness as well to address Luna's concern. “Huh. I actually don't know.” She then decides to holler to the two girls ahead of them, hoping they have some sense of direction. “Hey Luan!”

The chipper fifteen year old turns back to face her immediately older sister and her friend. “Yeah?”

“Where are you going?” Sam follows.

“Oh! Uh, didn't you say you wanted to end up at Ortega Avenue?”

“No, that’s where Ronnie Anne is holding her food drive,” Luna answers back.

“Oh. Well I _can_ see why I made a mistake now,” Luan jokes before turning to Maggie with a wide smile, hoping for some encouragement. In a shocking twist, Maggie just frowns, unfazed by the pun.

Luna stops and takes a moment to consider their current situation, thoughtfully tapping her chin with her finger.

Sam sees this, and decides to pry a little. “What'cha thinkin’, Moon Moon?”

“Hmm… Well… I guess we could drop by and see if Steely Anne needs a hand with anything? What do you guys think?” she asks her friends.

They all exchange careless little shrugs, and smile. Okay, so Maggie doesn't smile, but the others do.

“Sure, why not?” Luan answers on their behalf. “I could get a laugh watching Lincoln act all weird around his crush.”

Sam meets Luna with a smirk regarding her sister’s statement before acknowledging her directly. “Yeah, you would know all about that, wouldn't you Luan?”

Luan and Maggie both blush and meet the older girls with doe eyes. For a moment, they're more frozen than Anna’s heart, but then Luan relies on her tactfulness to form a rebuttal.

“Uhh… I don't get it, heh heh,” she laughs before nervously rubbing the back of her neck, being sure not to look at Maggie and instead focusing on a super interesting spot on the pavement below. Shockingly, super shockingly, Maggie does the same.

Luna and Sam just smile at one another. “Alright, let's roll, Autobots,” the third oldest Loud instructs, and with that, they press on to Ortega Avenue.

\-----------------------

Up ahead in the distance, she sees a shimmering light. Her head grows heavy and her sight grows dim, so she stops for the night.

The light comes from the angel sitting atop of a large Christmas tree set up in the middle of the Ortega Avenue Church parking lot. Lines of people have formed in front of little kiosks with signs labeled _Can Food Drive._ The dozens of denizens are gathered around to offer what they can for a cause greater than getting presents for themselves, but rather making sure others without that luxury can have a Merry Christmas.

And it’s all thanks to Ronnie Anne Santiago, and her older brother Bobby.

Ronnie Anne stands happily at her kiosk where she awaits another charitable patron’s donation. “Thank you! Merry Christmas!” she graciously tells them as they drop off their box of canned goods for the drive. As they walk away, she looks down to the box, and opens it to find _three dozen_ cans inside.

“Wow!” she can’t help but blurt out. “Guys, check this out!” she hollers to the two boys assisting her.

Lincoln Loud and Clyde McBride (commonly referred to in collectivity as ‘Clincoln McLoud’) walk her way, and look to the box of goods as well. Both boys don similarly awed faces upon seeing the considerably big donation.

“Woah!” Clyde comments.

“That’s like, the biggest drop tonight so far!” Lincoln adds.

And despite the amazing occurrence, Clyde can’t help but let out a dejected sigh. “Man, I kind of wish we could see more drops like this…”

Lincoln raises a brow at his statement. “What do you mean, buddy?”

Ronnie Anne sighs too as she realizes what he meant. “Yeah, I feel that Clyde. It would be kind of nice if people could give a little more,” she admits. But she takes a breath as she fixes her posture, choosing to be optimistic. “But hey, every single can counts. I’m just happy people are trying to help out.”

Lincoln warmly smiles at the girl. It isn’t the first time she’s made him feel this fuzzy feeling in his chest, the one that makes him look to her with the compassion he does.

“You’ve put together something really awesome here, Ronnie Anne. Thanks to you, some kids in the neighborhood won’t be going to bed hungry for a little while.”

Ronnie Anne looks to him, and sees the way his big, stupid glossy eyes look at her like that. God, he always did this to her. Why couldn’t he just be subtle about his feelings like normal people?

Sometimes, she wanted to kick him in his perfect teeth. Other times, she wanted to just hug him tightly until his white haired head popped off.

Today, she decides to just settle for playing it cool. That’s one thing she can _usually_ manage.

“Thanks for all your help, Lincoln. Seriously, it means a lot…” she starts with a warm smile in return. She doesn’t let the mutual gaze last long though. “Alright, get back to work, lame-o. These cans won’t stack themselves,” she instructs as she passes off the box (which is actually kind of heavy for twelve year old boys who don’t get a lot of exercise) to the lad.

“Oof. Uh, alright, I’m on it!” he simply responds, trying not to hide how shaky his arms and legs are as he turns away to put the cans away. Ronnie Anne just watches with a little smile, and maybe a little blushing, as he and Clyde go back to their business.

“You got this, Lincoln!” Clyde encourages his best friend. “Though, be careful not to strain your knees.”

Meanwhile, Bobby stands on a stage erected for the occasion, where he attempts to fix something wrong with the PA system all while his grandfather Hector watches on with incredulousness… and maybe some disappointment.

“Oh, for Blarney’s sake, Roberto… It’s all a matter of jiggling wires!” the mustachioed man cusses.

“Ugh, well, I’m not wired to jiggle wires!” Bobby retorts as he keeps trying to do just this to a rafter above. While finagling with the system though, he catches glimpse of some familiar faces in the distance, gradually drawing nearer. He shifts his focus to them, and squints his eyes enough to see that they belong to the four carolers who walked all the way from Franklin Avenue.

A smile stretches on his eager face. “Luna!”

He hops down from his step stool to rush off the stage, and the other drive workers all shift their attention from their respective activities to see what’s got him so excitable.

Upon seeing the resident rocker of Royal Woods and her clique of carolers, Lincoln does the same.

“Luna!” he cries just like his proclaimed ‘bro-in-law,’ and he takes a moment to consider his next move between her, Clyde, and the heavy box of cans.

If he could, he would shrug as he comes to a decision.

“Take care of these for me, will ya Clyde?” he asks, and before the other boy can even answer, Lincoln is unceremoniously handing him the weighty box.

“Oh, oka- WAHH!” he cries as the box is pretty much dropped in his arms, and Lincoln darts in the direction of his older sister.

He and Bobby cheerfully idle in the same spot as they await the foursome to step forward.

Luna, Luan, and Sam smile at their warm welcome, and Maggie just kind of exists like she's known to do.

“Hey guys. How goes the fight?” Luna asks her brother and sister's boyfriend.

“It's going great! We just got a really big drop, and the night isn't even halfway over!” Lincoln chirps.

“A big drop? That's great!” Luan congratulates, leaving dumb jokes aside for once.

“Oh yeah, tonight is shaping up to be great. It's enough to _drive_ me crazy!” Lincoln replies, choosing _not_ to leave dumb jokes aside.

The others smile and roll their eyes, minus Maggie of course.

“Well, that's _food_ for thought, haha,” Luan jokes back, now inciting some groans from the others… including Ronnie Anne, who now takes her place at the side of the other freckled girl with an affinity for purple hoodies.

“Man, he's such a nub,” she comments regarding her best boy friend.

“His sister is even worse,” Maggie furthers.

Disregarding all the tomfoolery, Bobby takes it upon himself to ask the newcomers about their surprise arrival.

“So what brings you ladies here? I thought you were all caroling tonight?”

“Well, we did hit a few houses,” Sam answers on their behalf. “But we kind of got lost following these two wanderers, and yeah.”

Luna smiles at Ronnie Anne now. “But hey! Since we're here, maybe we could help out? I see you've got a pretty big turnout!”

Ronnie Anne proudly looks around at the event she organized, feeling an equally empowering yet humbling warmth overcome her.

“Yeah, it did turn out pretty great.”

She then looks to her older brother, meeting his eyes for just a moment before shifting them to Lincoln. It catches him off guard, and he finds himself somewhat entranced by her gaze. She sweetly smiles at him as she says, “And I couldn't have done it without the help of some really great guys.”

Lincoln nervously laughs at her seldom sincere statement, but she keeps her eyes fixed on him instead of bashfully averting them. It's pretty awesome for Luna at least, who can't help but love what she sees.

Eventually, Ronnie Anne looks away from the white haired boy through, and turns her attention to her previous post at the drop off kiosk. Clyde has assumed responsibility of her station, where (despite showing visible signs of fatigue) he does his best to keep servicing contributing patrons.

She turns to Luna and company once more, offering them one more smile and a little wave.

“Well, I should get back to work. Thanks for dropping by though, guys. If you really wanna help, I'm sure Bobby can find something for you guys to do.”

She leaves it at that, and then turns to walk away with her hands inside her hoodie pockets.

“Okay, see ya!” Sam tells her with a wave of her own, and then the remaining members of the group exchange looks with one another.

It's Bobby to speak up next. “Okay, so I was working on the PA speakers a little bit ago, but I'll be honest that that kind of stuff isn't exactly my forte. Maybe you guys can help me out with that?” he suggests.

“Sure! Chunk has taught me a thing or two about rigging up amps, so maybe I can figure something out,” Sam offers.

“Yeah, and _speaking_ of _speakers,_ I’ve messed around with some tech in theater class,” Luan adds.

“Alright, wicked!” Bobby chipperly responds. “Let's get to it before abuelo has a coronary…”

The young man turns to head to the stage, but only Sam and Luan are eager to follow. They all look to the stragglers with uncertainty, and while Lincoln looks a little distraught about being left with nothing to do, Luna grins, and Maggie… Well, it's Maggie.

“Come on, Magpie. A little electrical work might _spark_ your interest!” Luan tells her with an inviting wave over.

The pale ravenette rolls her eyes. “Fine… But only because there's a chance you'll set yourself on fire,” she states before making her way over to her oddly dissimilar friend.

Sam sees the way Luna and Lincoln linger behind though. “You coming guys?” she asks.

Luna waves her off before Lincoln can even own his mouth to speak. “We're fine, dude. Work your magic.”

It's sufficient enough for Sam to simply shrug and go ahead with following the others, which leaves Luna with her only brother. For a moment, the two idle silently where they stand, with Luna still smirking at Lincoln, and Lincoln still showing some anxiety.

“Heh… Luan and Maggie sure are an interesting pair, huh?” he says to break the awkward silence.

But Luna won't let him ignore the elephant in the snow so easily…

“Yeah, I guess they are. Kind of like you and Ronnie Anne,” she somewhat teasingly tells him.

He rolls his eyes and sighs, realizing she won't let it go. “Alright, I already know where you're going with this,” he says to her.

Luna just plays it cool though, choosing to lean up against the nearby railing as she continues. “Nah, I won't harp on it. I know how you feel about meddling,” she starts. “But, you know, if you ever feel like talking about this stuff, I’ll be right here waiting.”

Lincoln ebbs a bit on the apprehension, allowing himself to relax as he rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry to jump the gun there. Just… I mean…” He looks over to Ronnie Anne to make sure she's occupied and out of earshot, and fortunately, she is. With that, he turns back to Luna, and takes a deep breath before proceeding. “I don't know how to approach her about this anymore. Like, I mean, it's obvious there's a lot of chemistry between us… But I still don't know if she feels the same way… or if she'd want to do anything about it even if she does.”

Some of Luna's amusement at his expense escapes her as she digests what he had to say. It was… relatable.

“I respect that. I hear ya,” she simply says to start. She stops leaning against the railing now to fix her posture as she levels with him. “I mean, I know you're only twelve, but feelings are feelings bro. You can't choose how you feel about people, and you can't choose who you feel them for.”

Somberness draws from her lingering breaths, and Lincoln can read her like an issue of Ace Savvy.

“So, speaking of uh… ‘this stuff’… where's Carol? I thought she was supposed to come with you guys?” he asks.

Luna winces as she looks skyward. “Yeah, she was supposed to. But I guess she had other things to worry about.”

Lincoln takes a moment to consider his response, and decides the following might be best.

“Well, whatever it is, I hope she gets it worked out. And if you decide you wanna, you know, talk about it… I'll be right here waiting,” he offers with a smile.

Luna smiles back. “I know, little dude. You're good.”

For a moment, they just share the feeling of compassionate understanding with this mutual gaze, but before it can overstay its welcome, a familiar raspy voice calls out to Luna.

“El luna! Como estas?” Hector greets the girl, approaching her from behind.

Luna turns to acknowledge him, offering him a sincere smile and inviting him into hug. “Ah, Senor Casagrande? Muoy bien! Y tu?”

“Muoy buena, muchas is gracias,” he answers as he accepts her embrace, and then he disengages to greet her younger brother. “Lincoln, you had better get back to helping Ronnie Anne. You wouldn't want her spending too much time alone with Clyde now, would you?” he teases.

They all look over to the kiosk, where Clyde clumsily drops some cans, causing Ronnie Anne to face palm.

Luna covers her mouth to muffle her laughter, and Lincoln just shakes his head with amusement.

“Yeah, I better go help out,” he says, and then he looks to his sister once more. “Thanks for the talk, Luna. I'll see ya again after bit.”

“Go on, get outta here ya mongrel,” she slips into her British accent to tease him.

He just chuckles, and then makes his way back over to the kiosk where he belongs.

Luna then turns her attention back to her fellow guitarist, who laughs a little laugh.

“Mongrel, that’s funny,” he remarks. “So not only are you clearly fluent in Espanol, but you’re also cultured in the ways of the old English?”

“I even speak a little French,” Luna jokingly responds. “But nothing I can say in front of the kiddos.”

Hector teasingly wags his finger at her. “Now now, missy. You know Santa frowns upon naughtiness.”

Luna laughs. “You know, you’re not the first person to tell me that tonight,” she tells him as she looks up to the stage for Sam. The blonde takes Bobby’s place on the step ladder to begin tinkering with the box of wires on the rafter above, and her peers just inquisitively watch until Luan decides to pull an oldie-but-goodie on Maggie. She just barely pokes the other girl’s shirt enough for her to look down, then glides her finger up to bonk her nose. And of course, Luan gets a good laugh from it.

And to Luna’s surprise, a little smile actually grows on Maggie’s face with the gesture.

“Heh, there’s just something about this time of year that brings out the best in people, isn’t there?” she thinks aloud before turning back to the older gentleman.

He nods in agreement. “Yes, yes there is. And speaking of the best in people… I just happen to have a very good friend of mine waiting ‘backstage’ if you’d like to say hello to them,” he lets her know.

She dubiously raises a brow. She knows it isn’t Mick Swagger, and she knows deep down it probably isn’t the blonde haired, selfie loving princess she’d _really_ like it to be… But even so, her curiosity has been piqued. “Oh?”

“Follow me,” Hector simply says with a cool little wave, and he leads her up the stairs to the back of the stage area, where his personal acoustic guitar is propped up against some scaffolding.

He looks to Luna with a sly, keen expression, and Luna can’t help but chuckle a little.

“Ah, I see. You’re friend is beautiful,” she plays along. _“Not as beautiful as Carol though…”_ she wistfully thinks to herself.

Hector picks up the guitar by its neck, and extends it for Luna to take. “While my ‘handyman’ of a grandson works on getting the speakers fixed, why don’t you provide some entertainment for these fine folks? After all, I heard a rumor you’ve doing quite a bit of singing already tonight.”

Luna studies the guitar and the man holding it for a little bit as she considers the possibility, then looks out to the many unfamiliar faces forming lines all along the lot of the church.

Despite her own troubles, and despite feeling some petty sadness over Carol not being here, or the likelihood of more tribulation the next time they meet… seeing all of these people gathered together for the reason of giving to those less fortunate makes her own misfortune seem…

_“How did Sam put it? It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small?”_

With that thought, she decides to go ahead and take Hector up on his request.

“Alright, Old Timer. You drive a hard bargain,” she jokes as she accepts the guitar.

He shrugs. “Hey, that bodega doesn’t run itself.”

With the guitar in hand, Luna paces her way over to the front of the stage, disregarding the looks she gets from strangers and friends alike. Once upon a time, Carol told her about feeling like a natural giving presentations because she knew she could do well. And, despite some flubbering in front of stupid Mr. Sunderland during a certain lecture on Richard Avedon and his influence on 21st Century Photography, she proved her point more than well.

For Luna, she can take similar pride in her own work. When time is on her side, and the moment is right, she can deliver the goods with any wicked axe or beat up box better than just about anyone… even if she’s a little out of tune.

At least, she’s perfectly capable with the right muse. And the right audience.

She decides to go ahead and keep it casual since there’s no mics, amps, or cameras, and goes ahead and takes a seat on the ledge of the stage. The occupants of the lot all systematically grant her their undivided attention upon seeing her colorful punk garb and quaint little six string, and she takes a breath to calm her nerves before starting.

She forms her fingers in a G shape, and then begins strumming along to the rhythm in her head, the rhythm in her heart…

“I don't want a lot for Christmas, there's just one thing I need… I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree… I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know… Make my wish come true… All I want for Christmas... Is you…”

What starts as a leisurely little song just for fun soon develops into a vehement display of emotion and passion, just as Luna’s jam sesh’s are known to do. The music emitting from her guitar grows louder and more bombastic with every chord, and every lyric to escape her lips is sung with more energy and life.

Maybe it’s because of the feelings howling inside of her over a certain special someone, maybe it’s just because she knows these people are watching and listening. It’s probably a little bit of both, but she really doesn’t care anymore. What really matters is, it feels damn good to just… let it go.

But it isn’t just great for her. No, Hector has a very hard time not singing and dancing along to her bop. And Bobby, despite getting some of the words wrong and having some awkward solo dance moves, has just as much difficulty.

Sam throws up the goats and headbangs along with her tongue out, and even Maggie smiles and nods her head to the melody with Luan.

And, while Clyde’s sick shucking and jiving is dang near impossible to ignore, Lincoln can’t help but glance at Ronnie Anne from the corner of his eye as she claps along to _All I Want For Christmas… Is You._

Luna finishes up the song with one last perfect high note, both from her voice and her instrument, and then allows herself to soak in the round of applause that follows her festive performance. Her friends and neighbors clap, the people who are just now learning to never forget her name are cheering, and she imagines that, if Carol were here… she would have really enjoyed it too. Probably enough to jump up on stage and kiss her right on the lips.

But, she isn’t here. And while that fact is still disheartening, she decides not to let it soil her moment. Instead, she focuses on just how great this whole thing, and everything it stands for, really is.

However, it comes to an abrupt and unexpected halt thanks to one particular face in the crowd.

The sound of music lingering in everyone's minds is soon replaced by the deafening sound of an airhorn, and they all shift their focus to the source of the alarming disturbance to find none other than Flip is responsible. And, he does _not_ look happy.

Of all the people to be upset by his interruption, Ronnie Anne is the most unsettled, and it shows as she grits her teeth and clenches her fists. Before she can lash out though, she feels a soft hand welcoming itself on her shoulder, and turns to find it belongs to a concerned Lincoln.

He doesn’t need to say anything. The consoling look in his eyes is enough to tell her to at least wait a little bit to hear what the Food and Fuel Pharaoh has to say before… well… kicking his butt.

Everyone pays close attention to the greying man as he puts the proverbial spotlight on himself. “Alright, everyone listen up. Cause what I have to say is really important!”

His audience keeps quiet and they all diligently listen, but it doesn't stop most of then from looking at him with scowls on their faces.

The man clears his throat, and then proceeds with his rant.

“I think I've made it very clear in the past that I don't fancy a lot of racket from Christmas carolers and the such. They're loud, they're course, and they get everywhere! And I'm sure most of my loyal customers here tonight remember that I've got a very important business to run during the day… I gotta get my eight hours a night!” he smugly states.

Ronnie Anne looks back to Lincoln with a Flip fueled fire in her eyes. And while the level headed boy would normally try to coax her into showing some restraint, even he decides Flip has already caused enough trouble for one night, and let's go of her shoulder with an almost siccing nod.

Without anything standing in her way now, Ronnie Anne begins to trudge forward…

“However…” Flip starts again, and Ronnie Anne stops in her tracks to listen to what he has to add.

Flip takes a heavy sigh, almost as if he feels _guilt._

“I gotta admit, seeing all of you people here tonight, taking time out of your busy lives just to give some of what you have to people with a lot less… It really… it really…”

He chokes up, but eventually coughs up some words to efficiently sum up his newfound feelings.

“Oh. I guess I'm just trying to say... I'm sorry if I've been a grinch in the past!”

Everyone else exchanges peculiar looks. Sam to Luna, Hector to Bobby, Lincoln to Clyde… and Ronnie Anne just stares at Flip with her jaw wide open.

Everyone allows his profession of remorse to linger in the winter air for a little longer, unsure of how to react to what’s been said.

Fortunately, Flip decides to break the awkward, tense silence with another proclamation.

“Girl, you rock a sick Christmas jingle. I'm not even mad about my tinnitus acting up!” he praises Luna.

She perks up with surprise. “Uhm, thanks Flip. I mean… thanks,” she repeats, allowing a little smile to curve on her face with the unusual display of kindness on his part.

“No, no. Thank you, Lincoln's sister. Thank all of you! I feel… I feel…” he stammers, his eyes practically tearing up with joy. “I feel like I could sing!”

Again, everyone exchanges peculiar looks. Or, cringes, really…

“But I won't!” Flip concludes, much to the relief of everyone else. “Instead, I have another way to show you guys my heart grew three sizes today…

He reaches into his pockets, and pulls out handfuls of wrinkly, faded coupons.

“Free Flippees for everyone! Come on down to the store and I'll give you any flavor you want!”

He tosses the coupons out for everyone to catch, and (while still skeptical about the whole ordeal) they accept them with smiling faces.

Of course, it doesn't stop some of the more astute occupants to closely examine the old coupons, like Lincoln. “Hey… These expired four years ago!”

But Flip's jovial energy doesn't fade. “Don’t sweat it! I'll still accept them! Heck, it's not like I've given out coupons any time… ever!”

And for a short while, the occupants of the church lot are caught in the hussle and bussle of holiday cheer and charity. Flip gladly hands out more of his expired coupons for free Flippees to anyone who will accept them, and the drive finds brief pause.

Ronnie Anne decides to take advantage of this, and skidaddles her way over to the stage to meet with Luna. The resident rocker carefully puts Hector’s guitar back where she found it, and then turns to find the twelve year old girl there to surprise her.

“Hey you,” she simply greets.

“Luna!” Ronnie Anne chirps, and then she looks back down to everyone else, fumbling over her words as nothing but incomprehensible babble comes out.

Luna just smiles as she places her hand on her shoulder. “This was pretty great, Ronnie Anne. You give a little bit of your love, and check it out. All this happens.”

Ronnie Anne looks to Luna with glossy puppy eyes and a warm smile of her own.

“Luna… Thank you.”

She raises her brow at that. “For what?”

“For what you did just now. For just being awesome.”

Luna blushes, and turns away as she tries to think of how to respond to this. Her eyes happen to wander to her younger brother, who has taken it upon himself to assume Ronnie Anne’s position at the drop off kiosk.

It warms her heart, and she meets Ronnie Anne’s glossy puppy eyes again.

“If you really wanna thank me, pay it forward,” she tells her, nudging her head to Lincoln’s direction.

Ronnie Anne looks over to him. It takes her a moment to understand just what Luna’s insinuating, but once it registers, she can’t help but blush a little.

Being Ronnie Anne Santiago though, she plays it cool.

“Thanks again, Luna,” she simply says, and with her hands snug in her hoodie pockets, she makes her way off the stage to take her place back her kiosk.

Luna watches with pride as she sneaks up on Lincoln and teasingly taps him on the shoulder, making him laugh, which then makes _her_ laugh.

“They have no right to be so cute together,” Luna says to herself.

She then takes another good look around at everything and everyone, feeling the warm and fuzzy feelings that swell up with the reciprocity of Christmas spirit going around. Bobby and Flip enjoy some Flippees together before Hector offers them some eggnog, which Bobby respectfully declines. The same cannot be said for Flip though.

Clyde helps out an elderly woman and her grandchildren with a box of cans, this one a lot less heavy than the previous drop. He even gets them all to laugh with a joking little flex of his muscles.

And finally, there’s Luan and Maggie. Luna watches as they stand at underneath a pavillion, and after Luan laughs at one of her own jokes that Maggie rolls her eyes at, they both happen to notice just what hangs above them…

A mistletoe.

Both girls’ faces turn beat red with embarrassment as they turn and look away from one another, and they each nervously rub the backs of their necks as they don cheeky little forced grins over it… which gradually turn into warm, sincere smiles.

And while they don’t kiss, it’s still enough to make Luna smile too.

“And neither do they…”

For a moment longer, she just loses herself watching them all, taking comfort in the fact that, at least for now, they’re as merry as they can be. Ronnie Anne’s drive is a success, everyone is having fun, and best of all, actual good is being done for a meaningful cause.

And yet, despite it all…

She still can’t help but think about _her…_

She pulls out her smartphone, and unlocks it to check the time. It’s only 7:00, but more importantly, there’s _that_ image in the background. The very same image Carol keeps as her wallpaper, the one that reminds Luna just how much her girlfriend means to her…

Her regretful reverie is soon broken by the sound of a familiarly sweet voice coming from behind her though.

“Luna?”

She turns to face Sam, who meets her with some worry.

“Are you okay?”

Luna takes one last good look at everything going on, and because of it, decides she’s content with how to answer her friend.

“Yeah, I’m good, dude,” she tells her with a smile.

Sam smiles back. “Cool. Because, I won’t lie, I’m tempted to go get Hector’s guitar and see if I can play something myself. And you know I don’t like singing alone,” she finishes with a sly look in her eyes.

Luna nods with approval, picking up just what the girl with the blue streak in her hair is putting down.

“Then let’s make it a duet.”

\-----------------------

“And that, according to the simulation, is exactly how your significant other is spending her evening,” Lisa says to Carol as she fixes her glasses.

The older girl takes a moment to consider everything that has just been said to her. While she didn’t understand all the science behind the computer program Lisa used to construct this scenario, she also knew it was probably best not to question a five year old with the mental capacity to publish a doctoral level thesis on quantum physics.

So, even with some lingering doubts in the back of her mind, she chooses to believe that, Lisa’s simulation probably isn’t so far off.

And if that’s the case… It’s not so bad. Luna’s having fun, and she’s happy. The food drive is going well; Sam, Luna, and Maggie probably don’t hate her for staying home, and hey... Flip even got the stick out of his butt. And Carol knew a thing or two about butt sticks…

So yeah. Things were well in Royal Woods. Maybe she still had room for guilt and regret, but for the time being, she could find a little comfort in what Lisa had to offer her.

Finally, she thinks of how to respond to it all.

“Wow…”

Lisa takes a sip of her Coke, the last drop of the can she discovers, and then tosses it in the trash, careful not to make too much noise to wake her sleeping two year old sister.

“I’m not sure if I understand the context of your ‘wow,’” she admits. “What exactly has you so flabbergasted?”

“I… I’m not sure, really,” Carol confesses. “I mean, I guess… I guess I’m just happy to hear that Luna is happy. I don’t want her to feel bad about what happened between us.”

She considers just leaving it at that, but with the momentary silence, and the way Lisa simply nods at her… she decides to treat herself to a little more venting.

“But at the same time, I’m still a little worried. Like, what’s gonna happen when she gets home? What if she can’t look past this? I don’t know… I still feel like I really messed up here…”

“I could run another simulation?” Lisa keenly suggests, but the unamused glare she gets in response is all she needs to see that this wouldn’t be appreciated. “Okay, okay… To be frank, and I mentioned this earlier, but I am by no means an expert on the nuances of romantic relationships. Heck, I struggle with platonic interactions,” adds, only somewhat joking.

She takes pause to decide just how to react to Carol’s concerns, but her demeanor changes when she chooses how to proceed.

“Carol, would you like to hear the two things that stood out to me when processing the data behind the simulation?”

Carol pitifully raises her head up to meet the five year old’s eyes. “Sure.”

And with her permission granted, Lisa lets her know. “First of all, and I don’t wish to sound course; but, you chose to stay home for a reason. You have a responsibility to your client and _yourself_ to complete your commission. Luna and the others will be fine. You aren’t missing out. Don’t let this be in vein.”

Ah. There it is. The cold, hard facts.

 _“Lisa’s right… I stayed home to work on the stupid drawing. I guess I need to at least get it finished so Luna won’t hate me too much,”_ Carol thinks. But rather than saying that, she only tells Lisa, “Okay…”

Deciphering Carol’s intent with keeping her response brief, Lisa chooses not to press any further on that matter. The message had been received.

However… there was something else she wanted to say… something she considered to be more important.

“The second point I’d like to bring to your attention is, well… your concern for Luna…”

That gets Carol to perk up.

“It’s rather endearing. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I can approach this the same way I do my studies. I can just _see_ the way you two care about one another,” Lisa begins, but she stops herself in an attempt to further compose her argument.

Halfway through though, she makes it clear with a frustrated shake of her head that, even she doesn't want to overthink. She’d rather just speak from her science loving heart.

“Carol, in my five short years, I’ve seen a lot. A lot of good, and a lot of bad. Heck, I was there for when uh… when the fiasco with the termites happened…”

She almost loses track of her thoughts reminiscing on that experience (one that Carol personally thought was kind of funny), but doesn’t let it deter her from getting to her point.

“...What I’m trying to say is, there are a lot of things to worry about. Getting into a university suitable for your desired career path, choosing to cut as many fats and carbs out of your diet for the new year, waking up early enough to get first dibs on the bathroom in this house… But one thing I won’t be worrying about as I lay my head down for eight hours of interrupted REM cycle sleep tonight, is whether or not things will work out between you and Luna. And would you like to know why?”

Carol is momentarily stunned by all of it. It was one thing for someone besides Lori to connect with her on such a personal level over her relationship with Luna, but for it to be _Lisa?_ It was practically a Christmas miracle.

“Why?” she simply replies, sincerely eager to hear Lisa’s reasoning.

“Because, even though I may not have personally engaged in courtship, I’ve seen it work at its best. My mother and father, Lori and ‘Bobby Boo Boo Bear’... and now you and Luna. Trust me when I say, I’m not just taking an educated guess here. I have it very good faith that, this time next year, the two of us will be having a similar conversation about what you wish to get her for Valentine’s Day.”

It was astonishing. Carol feels, almost numb. In a matter of seconds, she could feel Lisa truly opening up to her. Beneath all the stoicism and hyperfixations on studying phenomena, there’s a human being. One with emotional attachments to other people.

And Carol feels honored to know now that, not only does Lisa care a lot about the woman she loves, but she cares about _her._

She warmly smiles, feeling her heart race in her chest. “Lisa, oh my god… Thank you. I- I really needed to hear that. I really did.”

Lisa plays it cool as she swivels her chair over to her mini fridge, opening it to collect not one, but two cans of cold Coca Cola from inside.

She shrugs. “I’m just telling you how I see it. No thanks are necessary. But, I do appreciate that my spiel had merit to you. And I do hope you get to feeling better.”

Carol looks to the side, feeling just as bubbly as ever as she rests her hand against the sleeve of her sweater. “I think I do. I really think so.”

“Excellent,” Lisa comments as she pops the top from her Cola can… and…

The faintest mumbling comes from Lily’s bed. The two girls look over to it, and find that the tiny person snuggled up in her blankets is now tossing and turning.

They eyeball one another as a small sense of panic pervades the air, then look back to the tot as she sits up to look at them.

And, oh dear… she begins to cry.

For a moment, Lisa and Carol are paralyzed from the abrupt awakening of Lily Loud, but with her heartbreaking bawling, adrenaline begins pumping through their caffeinated veins, and they both hurry over to her bedside to comfort her.

“Oh, it’s okay Lily! Shhh, shhh… It’s okay!” Carol says in an attempt to coax her, but it’s hardly fruitful. She still cries.

Lisa similarly struggles with herself for something to reach out to her only younger sister, but all she can think to say is, “Please don’t be distressed, younger sibling! Uhm, oh... “

“Wah! WAH!” Lily bellyaches. The poor girl was sleeping so peacefully… but now all the waking world had to offer her were two girls that are _supposed_ to be really smart just stuttering like doofuses over how to get her to stop feeling cranky. Yeah. _Of course_ she would cry some more.

They look to one another again, hoping that maybe they’ll find some sort of epiphany just with the new visionary stimuli. But, dang it, that science stuff ain’t workin’ here.

“What do we do?!” Carol cries.

“I don’t know! She doesn’t usually do this!” Lisa retorts.

 _“Well, that’s comforting,”_ Carol thinks. But she can’t even be snarky right now. Not when she realizes the poor baby’s discomfort is (at least partially) because of her.

_“Dang it, how do you cheer up little kids? Cartoons? Toys? Ugh… I wish I could remember what my mom did for me. If she would ever tell me about when I was a baby… If she was ever around…”_

_“Okay, now’s not the time for daddy issues, Carol. Focus! What does Lily like?! What do babies like! Oh, if only Luna were here… she’d know what to-”_

Ding. Light bulb.

She almost feels a little silly for not thinking of it sooner. Of course this was the answer! If it didn’t work to help Lily calm down, she’d sell her BMW.

_Okay, no she wouldn’t. It was a really nice car, and she still had seven months before it was paid off. But still._

Lisa sees the way Carol’s expression shifts from panicked, to awed, to focused. Something was up with Ms. Pingrey.

“Carol?”

Without any more thought about it, the former homecoming queen kneels down to Lily’s side, meeting the crying child’s eyes with her own. She takes a moment to gaze into them, hoping to truly understand her pain, hoping to convey just how much remorse she really feels…

And then, she begins.

“Silent night... holy night… All is calm, all is bright…”

“Round yon virgin, mother and child… Holy infant so tender and mild…”

“Sleep in heavenly peace… Sleep in heavenly peace…”

Lisa can only watch in awe as Carol’s sweet, soothing singing is freed from her larynx. Great Galileo, this woman had a beautiful voice. She could impress Julie Andrews.

Even more commendable though is the fact that, it seems to be working. At least a little bit. Lily still cries, but slowly, she ebbs on her sadness. The tears stop rolling from her eyes, the melancholy moans turn into faint whimpers. Soon enough, the little girl has stopped all together, as all of her focus is given to the angelic, nurturing lullaby being sang just for her.

It’s truly a sight to behold for Lisa. While the only things that normally stop her in her tracks involve chordates and calculus, she can’t help but feel _privileged_ to bear witness to such a beautiful sight. In fact, she finds it to be so compelling, that she actually joins Carol in singing the remaining verses to the song.

She’s quiet at first, but when she sees Carol turn and smile encouragingly at her, she feels herself smile too. It makes her comfortable letting go and letting herself sing along for Carol, little Lily, and _her._

Carol watches as the beautiful baby girl before her drifts off to slumberland. Her little eyelids flutter heavily, but her pupils meet her own all the while. The last she’ll see before escaping to a world of silent lucidity will be a singing, smiling Carol Pingrey.

And for Carol, that thought gives her enough reason to forget about _everything_ else for just a little while. All that matters is being here for Lily. All that matters is showing her she is loved.

“Sleep in heavenly peace…”

Finally, she has fallen back to sleep. She lies motionless with her eyes closed as a little drool escapes her mouth. Her little chest rises and falls with full, healthy breaths… no hitching like there was from the crying.

And while she could easily look away now with the comfort that Lily will be okay, Carol finds herself mesmerized. Of all the things she had done in recent memory, none of them gave her quite as much fulfillment as being there for the little girl. Not any drawing or minuet, not any letter of consideration from universities and potential employers, not even her last kiss with Luna.

No, this would stay with her for a very long time. Probably forever.

Even so, all good things must come to an end, and she decides that it’s time to let her be to get back to… whatever it was she had going on before. Lisa. The ‘commission.’ Right.

She stands and turns away from the child to look to Lisa, and is surprised to see the five year old girl sniffling and wiping away a tear from her eye.

“Lisa?”

“I’m okay,” she assures her. “That just… That was so wholesome,” she admits.

Carol can’t help but smile at that. “Hey, maybe we should step outside for a minute. Give Lily a little space.”

Lisa nods as she fights to regain her usual decorum. “I won’t argue with that.”

Carol is first to make her way to the hallway, only pausing once to look back at the girl she just spent so much time having a heart-to-heart with. She’d never look at her the same way after tonight, not only because she was there to sing with her, or because she took so much time to discuss Luna with her…

But because she still had so many years ahead of her. She was amazing enough now. Who knows how just how great the person she’ll grow up to be?

 _“If only she had better taste in soft drinks,”_ she thinks to herself as she watches Lisa collect the two Cokes from her desk, being mindful not to wake up sleeping Lily yet again.

She scurries her way out to join Carol in the hallway, and the taller teenager carefully and quietly creaks the door shut behind her.

For a moment, they simply catch their breath, allowing the silence to stagnate around them.

“Phew… That was really something,” Lisa is first to comment.

“Yeah, we almost messed up there,” Carol quips, and they share a little laugh before getting serious again. “Uhm, Lisa… I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but… You just listened to me give a five hour rant on my situation, even when you had better things to do.”

“And your point?” Lisa rebuts with a raise of the brow.

Carol takes a second to think over how to say what she wants to say without sounding like a total Regina George, but decides that, for once in her life, overthinking things won’t be necessary. Heck, Lisa probably reached the same conclusion a lot sooner.

“Well… I guess I just… I didn’t think you really noticed me that much. I always kind of thought I was just ‘Luna’s girlfriend,’ to you…”

Lisa nods with understanding, but surprisingly, a smile comes to her normally expressionless face.

“Well, Carol… I’ll let you in on some classified information. A lesson I’ve learned with becoming an older sibling is that; sometimes, it’s important just to take time to listen to those in need,” she confesses. “And… I’ll admit I get sentimental around Christmas time.”  
With that, she extends the unopened can of Cola, inviting Carol to take it.

And in this moment, Carol realizes two things.

One, Lisa doesn’t just look at her as ‘Luna’s girlfriend.’” She has some respect for her in other regards. Maybe it was because they took their work seriously, maybe it was because they were well educated, it could be a lot of things. That didn’t matter as much as the fact that, the two of them could be something more than peers for the sake of Luna.

And two… Coca Cola isn’t so bad.

So, she decides to accept the can from Lisa, and pops the top. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” Lisa repeats, and they clink the cans together before sharing a swig of the stuff.

It’s easily the best Coke Carol’s ever had.

 


End file.
